"Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com> writes:

> "Nathan J. Williams" <nathanw@wasabisystems.com> writes:
> > I hate global configuration files for tools. They're a hidden
> > dependancy on system state, and they tend to bite me when
> > another user uses the system or I want to do a "plain" build.
> 
> So don't use them...

Someone else will use them and hurt themselves and I will have to
debug it. It is in my interest, as it should be in the interest of all
developers, to reduce the complexity of the build system. Adding a
machine-level hook for options is bad on this count.

> > Please don't do this. Write your own wrapper script and keep it
> > somewhere convenient for you.
> 
> This is a real pain in the neck a lot of the time. Everyone writes
> their own wrapper script, too, which is a waste of everyone's time
> when everyone wants the same functionality....

If they want the same functionality than there should be no need for
the configuration file; change build.sh to do what "everyone" wants.

Machine-specific configuration files are harmful. The onus is on you
to demonstrate why per-machine configuration of a source tree tool
makes even the slightest amount of sense. Per-source tree, maybe. But
per-machine? Absolutely not.

        - Nathan