[debhelper-devel] Bug#415396: "dh_install --list-missing" should ignore manpages and other installed files

[Niels Thykier]

Michael Stapelberg:
> Sorry for the late reply.
> 

Hi again, :)

> On Sat, Oct 1, 2016 at 11:09 AM, Niels Thykier <niels at thykier.net> wrote:
> 
>> [...]
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I am sympathetic to the end goal.
>>
>> The log file approach could work, but in that case we could even defer
>> it to a separate helper (as it is dh_install is larger than I would like
>> it).
>>
> 
> By “defer it”, what exactly do you mean? Checking for files which were not
> installed?
> 

Put the logic into a separate helper, which has - as sole purpose - the
responsibility for doing "list/fail-on-missing" checks.

> 
>>   I am happy to assist with creating a patch for this.
>>
>> A few recommendations:
>>  * If the install log is created under debian/.debhelper it is cleaned
>>    up automatically.  I strongly prefer this for new internal files.
>>    (Feel free to use "generated_file()" for this purpose)
>>  * Please create a sub in Dh_Lib for registering installed files, so it
>>    becomes standardised.
>>    (Documentation goes in doc/PROGRAMMING)
>>
> 
> Looking at dh_installdocs, I see that it shells out to a combination of
> find+sort+xargs+cp. What’s your recommendation for getting the list of
> affected files? Would it be best to read the output of find+sort, process
> it, then shell out to xargs+cp?
> 

To begin with, I think I would just log the original pattern (for source
files) and let this new helper "re-expand" it.  If performance becomes
an issue, we can revisit that decision.  The simpler it is to retro-fit
this new functionality into an existing helper, the easier we can have
"third-party" tools adopt it. :)

The only "detail" here is that some tools use input files and others use
input "patterns", so we have to be able to distinguish those when the
helper tool sees them.

Thanks,
~Niels