Re: CVS commit: src/usr.bin/make

[Alistair Crooks <agc%pkgsrc.org@localhost>]

On Sun, Mar 29, 2009 at 02:05:04PM -0400, Perry E. Metzger wrote:
> 
> Alistair Crooks <agc%pkgsrc.org@localhost> writes:
> > This is veering off topic, I fear, but a datapoint:
> >
> > We used a yyyymmdd-based time value for version numbering of the
> > pkg_install tools, derived from embedded RCS Ids, for years (to check
> > tools had sufficient features for what they were going to be asked to
> > do).  This was across NetBSD and pkgsrc branches.
> 
> That's fine, but those are
> 
> a) essentially monotonic because of your management practices
> b) not based on build time (which is my main complaint about things like
>    the old make(1) version stamp.
> 
> Also, the pkg tools are under quite active development and have
> substantial interface shifts with time, and you need to automatically
> decide when to rebuild them so you *need* a version.

If you want to check for features, then I suggest you add a -Q: argument
to make(1), to be used for querying for features. A non-existent -Q
argument would mean the feature wasn't available. Other uses would be:

% make -Q repeatable-builds
repeatable-builds supported
% echo $?
0
% make -Q me-a-crocodile-sandwich-and-make-it-snappy
me-a-crocodile-sanewich-and-make-it-snappy not supported
% echo $?
1

i.e. de-couple the feature from the date. The two are obviously not related
in this case.

Regards,
Alistair