Re: my build issues

[Alan Barrett <apb%cequrux.com@localhost>]

On Thu, 25 Sep 2008, Sarton O'Brien wrote:
> > As always, my advice is to not rely on the complex rules that are used
> > to choose the default obj directory.  Just pass a -O flag to build.sh.
> 
> Is this a problem because /usr/obj doesn't exist or because
> /usr/src/obj is a symlink to /usr/obj? Is it merely that people should
> ensure the symlink points somewhere useful?

From my point of view, the problem is that the rules for choosing the
obj directory (and the tools directory) are so complicated that build.sh
has very little chance of figuring them out.  The directory name could
be just about anything depending on several variabels in mk.conf and the
environment.

> I understand why it's a symlink but maybe it should be explained more
> clearly in the documentation, seeing as the /usr/src/obj symlink is
> created automatically, if someone doesn't provide that patch of course
> :) ... autocreation seems to make sense, based on the existence of
> that symlink.

There's not always a symlink.  The dir name is not always /usr/obj or
/usr/src/obj.  The documentation is spread out all over the place.

I have an interest in making build.sh do the right thing, but I have
no interest in figuring out how the many complex rules interact.  If
somebody else can figure out what the rules are, and document them in a
complete and readable way, then I can make build.sh do the right thing.
Until then, I'll keep on saying "don't rely on the complex rules; pass
explicit -O and -T flags to build.sh".

--apb (Alan Barrett)