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Re: [PATCH 0/6] build-aux/bootstrap that doesn't need to replace itself
From: |
Bruno Haible |
Subject: |
Re: [PATCH 0/6] build-aux/bootstrap that doesn't need to replace itself |
Date: |
Tue, 27 Dec 2022 22:09:36 +0100 |
Hi Paul,
You write in <https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=56749>:
> I put the latter script into the gzip
> repository but did not put the auxiliary files there. I did not notice
> the error in my testing, since the three auxiliary files were there in
> my working copy.
I'm sorry that the mechanism that I coded in July got you into making
a mistake.
But I strongly object against the backwards move regarding the autopull.sh /
autogen.sh *concepts*.
The concepts, as I described them in
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2022-07/msg00053.html>
<https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2022-07/msg00078.html>
are that
* There are two preparation phases for a git repo, before the user
can run configure: './autopull.sh' then './autogen.sh'.
* These are *interfaces* between the package's code and the developer.
Like the *interface* behind the 'configure' script. The purpose
is that — over time, as more and more packages adopt these two script
names — developers can just use these two script names as part of their
habits.
The implementation (bootstrap script, bootstrap-funclib.sh function library)
are just an implementation of these concepts. If your implementation works
better than mine (by avoiding some possible pitfalls), then that's fine.
But what I object to is that you are killing the incentive for more packages
to adopt the autopull.sh / autogen.sh separation. In particular:
* It's better to recommend in README-hacking
$ # 1. Fetch auxiliary files from the network.
$ ./autopull.sh
$
$ # 2. Generate files locally.
$ ./autogen.sh
because that's the two command names that the developer should remember
and get used to work with.
If you write
$ ./bootstrap --pull # 1. Fetch some files from the network.
$ ./bootstrap --gen # 2. Generate other files locally.
then we have different command names for the same thing, and it
encourages packages to clump two different things into a single
script.
* I object against omitting autopull.sh and autogen.sh from what gets
copied into the package.
* I object against documentation such as
running @samp{./bootstrap --pull} or @file{autopull.sh}
because two different commands (with 'or') does not help in creating
a habit that is easy to remember and easy to use.
Bruno
- [PATCH 0/6] build-aux/bootstrap that doesn't need to replace itself, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 1/6] Move scriptversion= lines up in scripts, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH] stdnoreturn: deprecate, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 6/6] Add --pull, --gen options to build-aux/bootstrap, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 3/6] Make autopull a shell function too, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 5/6] Support packages with just 'bootstrap', Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 4/6] Bootstrap with functions, not scripts, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- [PATCH 2/6] Make autogen a shell function too, Paul Eggert, 2022/12/27
- Re: [PATCH 0/6] build-aux/bootstrap that doesn't need to replace itself,
Bruno Haible <=