Re: [PATCH] Makefile: replace perl/Makefile.PL with simple make rules

From: Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>
Date: Nov 30, 2017, 20:59 UTC
Message-ID: <20171130205952.GB20640@aiede.mtv.corp.google.com>
In-Reply-To: <87fu8wumy6.fsf@evledraar.booking.com>

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 30 2017, Jonathan Nieder jotted:
>> Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

>>>  * We don't build the Git(3) Git::I18N(3) etc. man pages from the
>>>    embedded perldoc. I suspect nobody really cares, these are mostly
>>>    internal APIs, and if someone's developing against them they likely
>>>    know enough to issue a "perldoc" against the installed file to get
>>>    the same result.

[...]

>> Debian cares (see
>> https://www.debian.org/doc/packaging-manuals/perl-policy/ch-module_packages.html
>> for details).

[...]

Show 6 quoted lines

> It just says you have to install the manpages in such-and-such a place,
> but I don't have any. There, policy issue fixed :)
>
> More seriously, it seems to me that the only reason we have these
> manpages in the first place is because of emergent effects. *Maybe* I'm
> wrong about someone using Git.pm as an external API, is that the case?

Yeah, people really do use Git.pm as an external API.

Unlike e.g. something on CPAN, its API stability guarantees are not great, so I am not saying I recommend it, but people have been using it that way.

If we want to prevent this, then we should not be installing it in the public perl module path. Or we should at least add a note to the manpages we ship :) to recommend not using it.

Thanks, Jonathan