Re: maintainer-makefile vs vc-list-files/useless-if-before-free

[Simon Josefsson]

Jim Meyering <address@hidden> writes:

> Simon Josefsson wrote:
>> In a project that use maintainer-makefile, I get:
>>
>> address@hidden:~/src/libidn master$ make syntax-check
>> avoid_if_before_free
>> /bin/sh: line 2: /build-aux/vc-list-files: No such file or directory
>> /bin/sh: line 2: /build-aux/useless-if-before-free: No such file or directory
>>
>> The patch below makes the error messages better.  Ok to push?
>>
>> I prefer that maintainer-makefile do not depend on vc-list-files and
>> useless-if-before-free modules: not every use of maint.mk requires
>> syntax-check to work, and not every use of syntax-check needs
>> useless-if-before-free tests.
> ...
>
> Hi Simon,
>
> That will help only a little, since a parallel build
> (the norm, these days) will run $(local-check) rules at the same time.
> So it seems too much like an ineffectual band-aid to be worthwhile.
>
> Actually, vc-list-files is now central enough to the functioning of
> maint.mk that I think it *should* be a dependent.
> Why do you think it should not?

I don't care strongly, so that would be fine with me.  OK to push this?

diff --git a/modules/maintainer-makefile b/modules/maintainer-makefile
index 492ca69..21c2802 100644
--- a/modules/maintainer-makefile
+++ b/modules/maintainer-makefile
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ top/maint.mk
 
 Depends-on:
 gnumakefile
+useless-if-before-free
+vc-list-files
 
 License:
 GPLed build tool

>> +syntax-check: check-vc-list-files $(local-check)
>>  #   @grep -nE '#  *include <(limits|std(def|arg|bool))\.h>'         \
>>  #       $$(find -type f -name '*.[chly]') &&                        \
>>  #     { echo '$(ME): found conditional include' 1>&2;               \
>> @@ -111,6 +118,9 @@ define _prohibit_regexp
>>  endef
>>
>>  sc_avoid_if_before_free:
>> +    test -x $(gnulib_dir)/build-aux/useless-if-before-free || \
>> +    { echo '$(ME): need gnulib module useless-if-before-free' 1>&2; \
>> +      exit 1; } || :
>
> Please just add a line like this in that package's cfg.mk
>
>   local-checks-to-skip += sc_avoid_if_before_free
>
> That's better because it won't mask the real problem
> when someone wants the test and forgets to depend on
> the useless-if-before-free module.

This will still work even if we apply the patch above.  The only problem
is a small waste of disk space in the rare cases where a maintainer
don't care about syntax-check but cares about maint.mk.

/Simon