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

[Michael Stapelberg]

On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 9:43 PM, Niels Thykier <niels at thykier.net> wrote:

> 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.
>

Thanks for clarifying. Would dh_missing be an okay name?


>
> >
> >>   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. :)
>

Makes sense.

I looked at dh_installdocs and it’s actually way more complicated than I
imagined.

It’s too bad we don’t have a point through which all files must pass (like
install_file), otherwise the change would be simple.

Would it be okay to convert the helpers one-by-one to use the new
mechanism? If not, I don’t think I have enough motivation to actually
update all dh_* programs to log their files.

-- 
Best regards,
Michael
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