[task #15626] tarballs as order-only versus normal prerequisites

[Boud Roukema]

URL:
  <https://savannah.nongnu.org/task/?15626>

                 Summary: tarballs as order-only versus normal prerequisites
                 Project: Reproducible paper template
            Submitted by: boud
            Submitted on: Wed 06 May 2020 03:27:23 PM UTC
         Should Start On: Wed 06 May 2020 12:00:00 AM UTC
   Should be Finished on: Wed 06 May 2020 12:00:00 AM UTC
                Category: Software
                Priority: 3 - Low
                  Status: None
                 Privacy: Public
        Percent Complete: 0%
             Assigned to: None
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                  Effort: 0.00

    _______________________________________________________

Details:

If versions.conf and checksums.conf have been updated, then should 
the decision on reconfiguring/compiling/installing the package
be a conscious user decision or an automatic decision?

Right now, we have tarballs in `high-level.mk` as order-only 
prerequisites [1], so the configure/compile/install chain is _not_
carried out by the make rule for that package. The user has
to make a deliberate decision on whether or not to 
re-configure/compile/install.

Provided that the user learns `make`, which is required to 
use 'maneage' properly, this can easily be changed in the .mk
file by the user. So the real question is what the default
should be. A generic replacement of the pipe `|` by a space
would invalidate many of the rules, so adding an extra
meta-level rule to allow the default to be trivially changed
is probably not practical.

On the other hand, as usage increases, there might be increased
preference for switching from the present default, or someone
may have an idea on how to make a toggle script - to toggle
from order-only to normal prerequisites while fixing parts
of each corresponding rule that need to be updated.

So I think this theme is worth keeping on the task list 
as a low-priority, possible item to come back to if there's
sufficient interest.

[1]
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Prerequisite-Types.html#Prerequisite-Types




    _______________________________________________________

Reply to this item at:

  <https://savannah.nongnu.org/task/?15626>

_______________________________________________
  Message sent via Savannah
  https://savannah.nongnu.org/