[Gnu-arch-users] Customizing the naming convention

[Stefan Monnier]

I'm having some difficulties customizing the naming convention:

- the relation between {arch}/=tagging-method and .arch-inventory
  is not clearly described in the manual.  In particular I needed
  to allow `Makefile' as source in one dir while they are globally
  classified as precious (generated via autoconf).  I thought putting
  a `precious' config in .arch-inventory to override the setting
  in =tagging-method would be enough, but I additionally had
  to copy the definition of `source' from =tagging-method to
  .arch-inventory.  This makes me wonder if I should also copy the settings
  for `junk' etc...

- I have set things up such that all Makefiles other than etc/Makefile
  are considered as precious.  `tla inventory --kind etc | grep Makefile'
  indicates that etc/Makefile is properly recognized as source.
  And yet `tla changes' says

     D  etc/Makefile
     A  etc/.arch-ids/Makefile.id

  as if I had mistakenly turned etc/Makefile into a non-source file.

- Is there a way to check whether changes to =tagging-method (and friends)
  have turned a preexisting source file into non-source or vice-versa?
  I've used `tla changes' but I'm not sure whether it's reliable.  The doc
  basically just says "be careful not to make such changes otherwise things
  might behave funny" without explaning what kind of funniness can be
  expected and how to check that we're safe.

- The rules for how the regexps are used are inflexible.  The main problem
  is that the order is hard-coded.  This has two disadvantages: first, you
  have to learn the order, second you're stuck with it.  I'd rather that the
  regexp rule are applied sequentially as they are encountered in the
  =tagging-method file.  That would be more powerful and more intuitive,
  especially w.r.t how the dir-local and the tree-wide settings relate to
  each other.  For example, with the current behavior, it seems to be very
  painful to make "all x* files" junk except for "ximportant" which should
  be source.

- I wish I could give rules such that "foo.in implies that foo is precious".
  Especially in cases where some `foo's are auto-generated while others are
  hand made.

- I also wish I could match the full file name relative to the tree root
  rather than just the base name.  This would allow to give generic rules
  that depend on the directory name.  I can use .arch-inventory to get
  similar results usually, but not when the rule applies to
  several directories.

Finally, what is the rationale behind where files are put, in .FOO or in
{arch}/=FOO ?


        Stefan