[Bug 1290878] New: macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

Bug ID: 1290878
           Summary: macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global
           Product: Fedora
           Version: rawhide
         Component: fontpackages
          Assignee: [e-mail]
          Reporter: [e-mail]
        QA Contact: [e-mail]
                CC: [e-mail],
                    [e-mail], [e-mail],
                    [e-mail]

While working on some compatibility macros for EPEL (to let the older branches
use some of the new RPM functionality without ifdefs) I found my macros broke
nothing except the font packages.  After some bugging I found that use of
%define in the %_font_pkg() macro will expand itself recursively when expanded
in certain contexts.  It seems to work currently by luck.

Changing that one %define to %global appears to work and generates RPMs which
differ from the current packages by nothing other than timestamps.

Is there a specific reason that %define is used there?  As I understand it, the
general rule is that you should use %global unless you know that you really
need the special and difficult to explain behavior of %define.  There's no
comment in the macros file about this, so I suspect that the use of %define is
not intentional.

Unfortunately this is holding up some work I'm doing so I'd like to get this
pushed out at least for EL6 and EL5 as soon as is reasonable.  I'll do a
complete rebuild of all font packages and rpmdiff against current rawhide as
well as EPEL5 and 6 and post it here to make sure there's no breakage, and I'm
happy to push a package with that one line patched to any branches you desire. 
Just let me know.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #1 from Jason Tibbitts  ---
Oh, hey, it appears that on EPEL6 (and 7, though that doesn't block my work)
the fontpackages macros are actually part of EPEL.  Which means I can pretty
much never expect to be able to use a fix.

I'll see if I can't just override the macros in my own macro package and be
done with it.  Might be worth fixing the bug in the branches you actually
control, but I guess it's not such a big deal.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #2 from Nicolas Mailhot  ---
(In reply to Jason Tibbitts from comment #0)
> Is there a specific reason that %define is used there?

I don't think so, it's just old and working and antedates the great define
purging. And since changing it implies rebuilding all font packages and
updating the Fedora wiki, it's pretty much only done at the start of a Fedora
cycle

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #3 from Jason Tibbitts  ---
It's not a huge deal except when it doesn't work (which really only happens
when you do fancy things with RPM macros as I'm doing).  In the specific case
of EL6, we can't fix it anyway because it's a Red Hat package, but I can just
override the one macro I need to change.

I haven't made it to EL5 but I believe the same change will be needed there as
well.  I can of course just do the same override, but since I've the ability to
actually fix it properly I'd prefer to do that if you wouldn't mind me doing
so.

And changing it to fix this issue actually doesn't imply a rebuild of anything
except the fontpackages package, since the actual font packages are unchanged
after this change it made.  I don't think anything has a direct version
dependency on any of the fontpackages subpackages.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #4 from Nicolas Mailhot  ---
Sure, you don't *need* to rebuild. But if you don't, anyone trying to rebuild
from the repo won't be able to reproduce exactly the packages. Some people
suspect three-letter agencies when that happens

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #5 from Jason Tibbitts  ---
Actually, the packages are identical save for timestamps.  I can provide you
with rpmdiffs of the packages built with and without the single macro change if
this would help you.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

[Red Hat Bugzilla]

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #6 from Nicolas Mailhot  ---
No need I was just explaining why changes to this root package are few and take
a long time to percolate in epel.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #8 from Fedora End Of Life  ---
This message is a reminder that Fedora 24 is nearing its end of life.
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[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

--- Comment #9 from Jason Tibbitts  ---
FYI, this no longer matters to me because EPEL5 is long gone.  However, the bug
does still exist, even in rawhide.

[Bug 1290878] macros.fonts uses %define instead of %global

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1290878

Fedora End Of Life  changed:

What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|NEW                         |CLOSED
         Resolution|---                         |EOL
        Last Closed|                            |2017-08-08 08:30:55

--- Comment #10 from Fedora End Of Life  ---
Fedora 24 changed to end-of-life (EOL) status on 2017-08-08. Fedora 24 is
no longer maintained, which means that it will not receive any further
security or bug fix updates. As a result we are closing this bug.

If you can reproduce this bug against a currently maintained version of
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