Re: vc-dwim 0.2: a version-control-agnostic ChangeLog diff and commit tool

[Jim Meyering]

Ralf Wildenhues <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello Jim,
> * Jim Meyering wrote on Fri, Sep 22, 2006 at 09:58:26AM CEST:

Hi Ralf,

Thanks for the quick and voluminous feedback!

>>   hg clone http://hg.et.redhat.com/hg/emd/applications/vc-dwim
>> 
>> If you know of a similar tool, or a nice, VC-agnostic perl module,
>> please let me know.
>
> cl-commit seems to do a subset of what you advertise.  I say seems
> because...

Ahh.. Thanks.  I'll take a look at that.

>> Feedback welcome,
>
> ... I can't get it to build.  Even after I updated by `hg' tool to the
> latest version of http://selenic.com/hg/ (advertised as 0.7), its `hg
> log' function does not understand `--limit' nor `--template', thus the
> sed expression to create vc-dwim ends up being invalid.  The `hg' tool
> furthermore seems not to work outside a checked-out directory (a
>   cd $(srcdir) && hg ...
> should fix that).

FWIW, I'm using hg-0.9.1.

Thanks.  I've done as you suggest.
This should work, now.

> Next, $< is not portable to use except in inference rules.

I know all too well :)
I'm too accustomed to relying on GNU make.
Fixed.

> Also, the `$((' in
>   $((./vc-dwim --print-vc-list) 2>/dev/null || echo cg cvs hg svn)

Fixed.

> is erroneous (see (autoconf.info)Shell Substitutions).
>
> Then,
>     perllibdir="`cd $(top_srcdir); pwd`" \

I don't see this anywhere.
Could it have been substituted in by something on your end?

> is dangerous, as shells may produce output upon the `cd'.  Using
>   CDPATH="$${ZSH_VERSION+.}$(PATH_SEPARATOR)" && cd
>
> aka. $(am__cd) (undocumented(!) Automake variable) instead works.
>
> On the formal side, many files lack a copyright header; vc-dwim.pl
> refers to the LGPL but only the GPL is shipped with the tarball; and I

Thanks for spotting that.
In one place in that file, it said GPL, in the other it said LGPL.
Now they both say GPL.

> missed AUTHORS (certainly not a requirement), and a statement in README
> stating which license applies to it.

I'll add one.

> I haven't had a chance to take a look at your tool's functionality yet.
> ;-)

If you're still inclined to try, "hg pull -u" to get the latest,
or just "hg clone" afresh.

Thanks again,

Jim