Re: CHECK_STRUCTS/dmpstruct.h mechanism is broken.

[Paul Eggert]

On 4/10/19 9:22 AM, Alan Mackenzie wrote:
> All that was needed to disable it was a single line change to set
> CHECK_STRUCTS to zero.

That would also have sufficed, but the code clutter (and slowdown in the
build due to the computation of hashes which forces that part of the
build to be sequential) was also annoying. If you really want it we can
bring back the mechanism (with CHECK_STRUCTS off by default please!),
though I'd rather not - see below.

> it was of use to me recently when it reminded me to
> amend dump_subr after extending struct subr.
I didn't observe that in master - presumably this was in some
experimental branch? In master, dump_subr is currently the same as it
was when the pdumper was installed.

Before making the recent change, I reviewed all the changes made to
pdumper.c in master, and observed none where the hashes helped and
several where they hurt. Since the portable dumper was added I have made
four commits that involved the hashes, and the hashes only got into my
way and slowed me down. You made one commit
(9c0fa1172fd987a8f23b115145270383a11c12fc) that involved the buffer.h
hash, and portions of that commit were mistakenly pushed in pdumper.c's
previous commit so the hashes didn't seem to have helped there. The only
other persons to make hash-related commits to pdumper.c were Alan and
Stefan, and the hashes didn't help there either.

As the hashes get in the way of ordinary development (mostly affecting
me) and don't seem to help in practice, I really want them to go.