[Daca-general] Can DACA be generalized? Information on other tools on website? Scope creep?

[Raphael Geissert]

Hi,

On 27 December 2010 01:26, Drew Scott Daniels <ddaniels at umalumni.mb.ca> wrote:
> Hi,
> I think more information about other tools is needed on the DACA website.
> I've seen comments about rats, splint and other tools though I haven't
> heard what the plans are. I haven't yet seen any mention of trying -Wall
> and even non-code tools like testing to see if pngcrunch or re-compressing
> will save space. I recently saw a bug
> <http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=579851> showing some
> packages don't compile using -Wall.

I have now added some more information on the website and will add
more as time permits. There have been some test archive rebuilds with
custom build flags on grid5000, usually resulting in bug reports.

For archive rebuilds with custom build flags with the same toolchain
it's probably easier (for now) to email Lucas Nussbaum with a proposal
(along with the specifics) asking him for a rebuild on grid5000. The
usual procedures for mass bug filing would still apply, though.
(n.b. ideas should not be discussed privately with Lucas, better send
them to debian-qa at lists.d.o; I don't want to be blamed for adding some
noise to his inbox ;)

> I'd also like to mention Gendarme for mono/.Net programs (ECMA CIL format
> actually). These are usually .dll's or .exe's.
> http://www.mono-project.com/Gendarme

Thanks, I didn't know about it. I've just tested it and added a note
on the website.

> Though compression/re-compression already stretches "code analysis" (in an
> "editorial changes" way ;-), I wonder if there would be a way to use
> findimagedups or some other ways of finding common files that would fit
> into the DACA project. It seems like it would be too difficult even if it
> did fit in the scope of DACA.

(Taking your 2002 email as context)
Looks like it would be easier to just compare sums from metadata
already available elsewhere. I'm taking note and will probably add a
script that generates a list of md5sums of all the files in the
archive (based on lintian's lab metadata) one of these days.
Finding duplicate files is completely out of DACA's goals.

> The scripts look nice enough, though I know bash can be a pain. It seems
> as though the tool names could be generalized such that the tool name
> could be a variable that runs the program and creates the appropriate
> files and directories.

Yes, the scripts need some refactoring, but finishing the v2
distributed scripts is my top priority now. Patches are welcome,
though.

> Thanks for crossing a few things off my old todo list:
> http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2002/07/msg04836.html

Heh, interesting list. I've worked on some of those things.

> P.S.: Please CC me on replies.

done

Cheers,
-- 
Raphael Geissert - Debian Developer
www.debian.org - get.debian.net