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Re: Chicken/egg problem building from a 'git clone'

From
Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Date
Mar 5, 2009, 12:06 UTC
Message-ID
<20090305120602.GA18717@coredump.intra.peff.net>
In-Reply-To
<43d8ce650903050337n48924fc3l89ef991d578f5849@mail.gmail.com>
On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 11:37:45AM +0000, John Tapsell wrote:
Show 10 quoted lines
> > ./configure is a generated script. Including it in the repository is not
> > something many projects do, since one of the things developers will be
> > working on is to change how that file is generated. Including it in the
> > release tar-balls is something every project (that uses autoconf) does,
> > since those are aimed at end-users.
> 
> Reason that it should be included:
> 
> * configure scripts usually are included.  git was the first source
> code in a long time that I've seen without one

I think you are confusing "checked into version control" with "distributed with release tarballs". Most projects do not do the former[1], but almost all (including git) do the latter.

This discussion is about things checked into the repository.

[1] Sorry, I don't have exact numbers, but I have never encountered this before.

> * we have lots other files in git.git that are autogenerated (the
> documentation files, for example)

I'm not aware of any auto-generated files that are checked in. Can you give an example?

> * people are used to being able to do "./configure; make; make install"

Right. They do it from the release tarball. Getting the version straight from source-control usually means you have to have autoconf if you want to run it.

> * It doesn't hurt anyone to do it.
Yes, it does. Having generated files in your source repository means:
  - you generate useless noise commits when those files are
    re-autogenerated
  - developers must make sure that they are not accidentally committing
    auto-generated cruft that have nothing to do with their actual
    changes
-Peff
Previous: John TapsellNext: Matthieu Moy
Message 17 of 31 in “Chicken/egg problem building from a 'git clone'”
  1. Joi EllisFeb 6, 2009
  2. Johannes SchindelinFeb 6, 2009
  3. Joi EllisFeb 6, 2009
  4. Miles BaderFeb 6, 2009
  5. Junio C HamanoFeb 6, 2009
  6. Miles BaderFeb 6, 2009
  7. Junio C HamanoFeb 6, 2009
  8. Miles BaderFeb 6, 2009
  9. Junio C HamanoFeb 6, 2009
  10. Miles BaderFeb 6, 2009
  11. Jeff KingFeb 6, 2009
  12. Junio C HamanoFeb 6, 2009
  13. Joi EllisMar 1, 2009
  14. Björn SteinbrinkMar 1, 2009
  15. Andreas EricssonMar 5, 2009
  16. John TapsellMar 5, 2009
  17. Jeff KingMar 5, 2009
  18. Matthieu MoyMar 5, 2009
  19. Jeff KingMar 5, 2009
  20. Jakub NarebskiMar 6, 2009
  21. Matthieu MoyMar 6, 2009
  22. Johannes SchindelinMar 6, 2009
  23. John TapsellMar 6, 2009
  24. asciidoc, was Re: Chicken/egg problem building from a 'git clone'Johannes Schindelin, Mar 6, 2009
  25. John TapsellMar 6, 2009
  26. Jakub NarebskiMar 6, 2009
  27. John TapsellMar 6, 2009
  28. Björn SteinbrinkFeb 6, 2009
  29. Johannes SchindelinFeb 6, 2009
  30. Björn SteinbrinkFeb 6, 2009
  31. Daniel BarkalowFeb 6, 2009

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