[Gnu-arch-users] Re: configs specs and meta-project management

[Miles Bader]

Denys Duchier <address@hidden> writes:
> I used "config specs" for the first time this evening and I have some
> questions:
> 
> 1. why does "tla build-config ..." have to be invoked inside a project
>    tree?
> 2. why do config specs have to live in a subdirectory named "configs"?
> 3. update-config and replay-config are documented but not implemented

I kind of agre with you; my impression is that the config system could
use a bit of a cleanup (there should be `cat-config') -- but I don't
really use them.

> I also dearly miss a --dry-run option.  Many other tools have one and
> I _always_ use it where available.

In many cases, there are command-specific ways you can see what would
happen (e.g., for `commit', it's `what-changed'; for `replay', its
`whats-missing -> get-patch -> show-changeset'), and for others, you can
usually just use `tla undo' after you realize you screwed up (e.g.,
star-merge), but I agree it would be nice to have a consistent option
you could whenever you're feeling nervous.

It probably wouldn't be too hard to implement either -- in general tla
commands construct a changeset and then apply it, so you could just skip
the application step (instead just printing the changeset).  I'm not
sure about things like conflicts though -- it'd be nice to see them even
when not applying the patch.

-Miles
-- 
.Numeric stability is probably not all that important when you're guessing.