>>>> "Joachim" == Joachim Schrod
<jschrod(a)acm.org> writes:
Joachim> You know that configure.usage is prominently featured on
Joachim>
http://www.xemacs.org/Install/index.html as the reference
Joachim> for configuration options, don't you? (item 5.)
Actually, most of us don't. Most of the website content is managed by
the same person who wrote the build package.
So thank you for pointing that out. :-)
That needs to be changed to refer to `./configure --help' and/or
`./configure --usage'. The file `configure.usage' is an internal
implementation detail, subject to change at _any_ time. (That doesn't
mean we'll gratuitously remove that file immediately, but it's under a
sentence of cvs rm which will not be delayed indefinitely, either.)
> The right thing to do here is help Adrian fix the build package
> to parse the output of `./configure --help'.[1]
Joachim> configure help has not enough information (yet).
What specifically is missing?
Joachim> My patch is band-aid, granted; but I think the chances
Joachim> are very small that anybody will step up to fix build in
Joachim> the next few weeks, i.e.,
I'd be happy to put money on the other side of that bet; the author of
build is probably the single most active developer right now in terms
of doing something for XEmacs project infrastructure every single day.
For values of "now" stretching back several years. :-)
In any case, there are several large changes looming which will almost
surely involve new configure options at least, and possibly changes to
existing options. So unless build is changed to parse --help output,
patches like yours are going to be needed frequently in the next few
months. I think it's unreasonable to ask other developers to maintain
an obsolete file for the sake of a single package that they don't use.
Joachim> Or add a big disclaimer that it doesn't work.
I don't think that's necessary. This _is_ the bleeding edge, after
all. Bring lots more Band-Aids. :-)
I'm sorry you got burned by this, you couldn't know if we didn't.
Feel free to ask about anything that seems dubious before you do too
much work.
Sincere regards,
--
School of Systems and Information Engineering
http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
ask what your business can "do for" free software.