Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Linux.conf.au FIXIT session - working with GNU Arch.

[Erik de Castro Lopo]

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 15:35:43 +0100
David Allouche <address@hidden> wrote:

> On Fri, Jan 16, 2004 at 07:24:28PM +1100, Robert Collins wrote:
> > Some specific things identified to improve tla's usability included
> > manual/howto improvements:

I attended Robert's FIXIT at LCA so maybe I can help here.

> [...]
> >   why ugly file names exist in the arch trees.
> 
> Where can this information be found? How does it compare with:
> 
> http://wiki.sourcecontrol.net/moin.cgi/moin.cgi/Why_20does_20Arch_20use_20these_20_27funky_27_20letters_3f?action=show

That covers it as far as I am concerned.

> http://wiki.sourcecontrol.net/moin.cgi/moin.cgi/ID_2dtagging_20methods

Thats a damn good start. The only criticism I have is the section on 
configure.in (which are now more commonly called configure.ac) files. 
How about something like this:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Template files are files which generate other source-like files during the 
build process (eg configure.ac, Makefile.am which are processed to generate
the files configure and Makefile.in). It is usually desirable to have the 
source files under the control of Arch, while the generated files are not. 
This can be done by tagging these files in a comment block that is not 
propagated from the source file to the generated file.

For configure.ac this can be done using:

    ifelse(dnl  
    
     Do not edit or modify anything in this comment block.
     The arch-tag line is a file identity tag for the GNU Arch 
     revision control system.
    
     arch-tag: <string generated using uuidgen>
    
    )dnl

while Makefile.am can use:

    ## Do not edit or modify anything in this comment block.
    ## The arch-tag line is a file identity tag for the GNU Arch 
    ## revision control system.
    ##
    ## arch-tag: <string generated using uuidgen>
    
Unfortunately, some files do not have any way of adding comments which 
are not propagated to the output file (eg *.in files which are processed 
during the running of the configure script). Tagline tagging of these files 
would result in a tag-id conflict since both the template and the output 
will contain the same tagline. For files like this it is best to
use explicit id-tags.

For files where both the source and generated files are to be under
control of Arch, tagline/explicit or explicit/explicit tagging could
be used.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers,
Erik
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo  address@hidden (Yes it's valid)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
"I once worked for a company where as part of the BS5750 "Quality"
process I attended a meeting where I was informed that it was Company
Policy not to use free software. When I asked him for his written
authorisation for me to remove X Windows from our Sun workstations,
he backtracked."   -- Phil Hunt
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
  Erik de Castro Lopo  address@hidden (Yes it's valid)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
BSD:  A psychoactive drug, popular in the 80s, probably developed at UC
Berkeley or thereabouts.  Similar in many ways to the prescription-only
medication called "System V", but infinitely more useful. (Or, at least,
more fun.)  The full chemical name is "Berkeley Standard Distribution".