[Gnu-arch-users] configs are too weakly coupled

[Robert Anderson]

There is a recurring problem in my development group that stems
from the way that there is really no strong connection between
configs and the trees built from them.

It goes something like this:

Devguy: "I built after your merge and there's a link problem now."
Me: "Are you fully up-to-date?  It builds for me."
Devguy: "Yes, everything is fully updated.  No luck."

The problem is invariably that a config file has been changed,
and the devguy is unaware of this and is confused and frustrated
that he can't get up-to-date by issuing "update" commands. 
Frankly, I think he's right to be.  You shouldn't always have to
check out from scratch, or sift through commits wondering if
someone changed a config file, manually tweaking your trees if
there was, or write your own hacky scripts that verify the
consistency of configs and tree layouts.  It ought to be a
one-off operation to verify that a config is fully checked in on
the one side, and a one-off operation to bring the config up to
date on the other, or verify that it is.

Maybe this is something the baz guys can think about.

Bob