Re: gnulib integration how to

[Ben Walton]

Excerpts from Bruno Haible's message of Tue Nov 15 21:48:30 -0500 2011:

Hi Bruno,

> Two things:
> 
> 1) From the perspective of a distributor of packages for a specific
>    platform, the libposix subproject of gnulib (see
>    
> <http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/POSIX-Substitutes-Library.html>
>    and gnulib/STATUS-libposix) should be of interest to you.
>    In the long run, this will be more economic for you than modifying
>    the configuration of dozens of packages.

Yes, this does look very appealing.  I'll see what I can do to
leverage this.

> 2) Your writeup has ca. 80% overlap with the gnulib documentation,
>    10% is specific to OpenCSW, and 10% is generic text not yet handled
>    by the gnulib documentation.
> 
>    What is, in general, the value of a smaller documentation when a more
>    extensive documentation already exists? Answer: The fact that it is
>    smaller. Faster to read. So, there is a value in linking from the gnulib
>    manual to your writeup.

Certainly.  It's not meant to be exhaustive but rather to get people
up and running quickly.  It's a distillation of the larger
documentation that captures the parts I found important and
pertinent.

>    But if we have a GNU package's documentation that starts to link
>    to related doc pieces, it will be likely that some of these
>    linked-to docs become out-of-date. So, before our manual can link
>    to your doc, your text should make it prominently clear when it
>    was last updated. IMO the currently location of that hint (near
>    the bottom, between a Google ad and a Wikidot ad, with a tiny
>    font) is not sufficient.  The right place for such a note is
>    between the title and the body.

Ok.  (Sorry about those ads.  I'm always logged in and forget that
most people get those.)  I've added a Last Updated and Version tag to
the top of the document.  I'll update these as I make changes.

>    Other than that, the idea of section "Knowing When gnulib is
>    Helpful" could be helpful for the Gnulib section "2.1 Finding
>    modules". But that section should also mention GNULIB_POSIXCHECK,
>    since that is the preferred way of finding which gnulib modules
>    are helpful (with this method, you don't need e.g. a HP-UX
>    machine to find which modules are needed for HP-UX).

Ok.  I'll see about a patch for the docs in this area too.

Your feedback is appreciated.

Thanks
-Ben
--
Ben Walton
Systems Programmer - CHASS
University of Toronto
C:416.407.5610 | W:416.978.4302