[Build-common-hackers] Bug#397304: cdbs: configure target does nothing, build target runs configure

[Frank Küster]

retitle 397304 cdbs should document how to "configure" a package
thanks

Sam Morris <sam at robots.org.uk> wrote:

> Is the 'configure' target's name not 'config.status'? 

The 'configure' target doesn't have a defined name, but you are in fact
right that 'configure' isn't a clever name, given that this is usually a
file that exists...

In "normal" Debian packages, you just have a look at debian/rules to see
which target invokes configure, and if it's the build target you can
just cut'n paste the invocation.  That's not possible with cdbs,
though.  

> Additionally you
> could invoke the 'common-configure-arch' or 'common-configure-indep'
> targets which should work for any build system that uses the hooks
> provided by buildcore.mk.

This answer shows one of the problems that non-cdbs users have with cdbs
packages: To me, it's simply not acceptable if I want to fix some other
maintainer's package that I need to dig through the source of a package
that it Build-Depends on to find out how to investigate my problem.

There should be some way, similar to "have a look at debian/rules", to
find this out.  Adding to cdbs.html a "Debugging" section that is
specifically written for the non-cdbs adepts might be a good solution.

Regards, Frank
-- 
Dr. Frank Küster
Single Molecule Spectroscopy, Protein Folding @ Inst. f. Biochemie, Univ. Zürich
Debian Developer (teTeX/TeXLive)