Subject: Re: etc/postinstall obsolete check versus SYS_INCLUDE=symlinks ...
To: Luke Mewburn <lukem@netbsd.org>
From: Jason R Thorpe <thorpej@wasabisystems.com>
List: tech-userlevel
Date: 11/25/2002 21:13:46
On Tue, Nov 26, 2002 at 03:27:37PM +1100, Luke Mewburn wrote:

 >     a)	Deprecate support for SYS_INCLUDE=symlinks, and always use
 > 	SYS_INCLUDE=copies (which is the default anyway).
 > 	I believe this is Jason's preferred approach, and I'm happy
 > 	to do this as well.
 > 	[Jason; please correct me if I'm misrepresented your position.]

No, this is my preferred option at this point.  SYS_INCLUDE=symlinks
is totally a second-class citizen at this point, and I don't really care
enough about it do want to bother making it work 100%.  If it can't be
made to work properly, then IMO is should just go the way of the dodo.

 >     b)	Reenable the support in postinstall for obsolete file checking,
 > 	and people who build using SYS_INCLUDE=symlinks will have to
 > 	use NOPOSTINSTALL=1 for their builds, and avoid using
 > 	"postinstall fix obsolete" manually.
 > 	(Note: SYS_INCLUDE=symlinks only works for DESTDIR=/
 > 	builds anyway)

This is not a good option, because it could have the side-effect if
inadvertently zapping locally-modified source code files.

 >     c)	Add support into etc/postinstall to determine if make(1)
 > 	has SYS_INCLUDE=symlink and skip the obsolete check in
 > 	that case.

Extra complexity for what is obviously a corner case.  Not so good :-)

 >     d)	Do nothing, and don't offer the (IMHO) useful functionality
 > 	of checking for and/or removing obsolete files.
 > 	I don't really consider this as a valid solution...

I agree with your assessment that (d) is not a reasonable option.

-- 
        -- Jason R. Thorpe <thorpej@wasabisystems.com>