Julian, Makefiles can be just as cryptic and difficult to maintain. For this reason, I don't really agree that using arbitrary code in debian/rules will make life any more difficult for anyone. It may make life easier, though.
An example posted to debian-devel illustrated a greatly simplified debian/rules, by making it into a script. The point is that it can be done, and that it can be useful. Regards, Alex. --- PGP/GPG Fingerprint: EFD1 AC6C 7ED5 E453 C367 AC7A B474 16E0 758D 7ED9 -----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS/CM>CC/IT d- s:+ a16 C++(++++)>$ UL++++>$ P--- L++>++$ E+ W+(-) N+ o? K? w---() !O !M !V PS+(++)>+ PE-(--) Y+>+ PGP t+>++ !5 X-- R>++ tv(+) b+(++) DI(+) D++ G>+++ e--> h! !r y>+++ ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------ On Thu, 1 Mar 2001, Julian Gilbey wrote: > On Wed, Feb 28, 2001 at 04:27:47PM -0800, Alexander Hvostov wrote: > > Julian, > > > > It can be done the easy way, or the hard way. What you described is the > > hard way. Why can't it be done the easy way? > > In general, given the number of example rules files available for > making a package correctly, surely trying to come up with a script > that gets it right which is not a makefile is the hard way? I would > presume that if an upstream package comes with a build script, it can > just be called from the makefile, and if it's a Debian native package, > why wouldn't someone use a makefile? > > So here's the crux of the matter: is this a theoretical question or is > there actually a package in existence with this alternative script? > > I certainly think policy should be no less giving than a > SHOULD/RECOMMEND on this matter, but if there's a really good reason > for some package to use some other mechanism, then should we forbid > it? It would make NMU's potentially much harder, and I pity the > package's future maintainer, should there be one. > > Julian > > -- > =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- > > Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, Queen Mary, Univ. of London > Debian GNU/Linux Developer, see http://people.debian.org/~jdg > Donate free food to the world's hungry: see http://www.thehungersite.com/ >
