fedpkg prep

[Matt McCutchen]

On Wed, 2010-09-01 at 13:33 -0400, Tom Lane wrote: 
> Matt McCutchen <matt at mattmccutchen.net> writes:
> > Does it work if the current branch tracks another local branch which
> > tracks an upstream branch?  It looks to me that the code does not handle
> > that, but I haven't found a good way to test it.  And if I want to set
> > up a local branch for the purpose of rebuilding a package for a
> > different Fedora version (e.g., systemd on F13), I am out of luck.  A
> > "branch" file in the versioned content would Just Work in the first case
> > and provide a solution for the second case.
> 
> So would a configurable branch attribute.

No, in the first case, the "dist" attribute would need to be set
manually unless fedpkg either (1) provides a "new branch" command that
sets it or (2) makes a branch inherit the "dist" attribute from the
branch it tracks.

> I have to admit I like that
> idea a lot better than "branch" files,

I don't.  The "dist" value constitutes configuration for the build
system, which does not belong in the version control system's
configuration file.  The natural place for such configuration is in the
working tree, along with all the other artifacts manipulated by the
build system.  You wouldn't put the ./configure arguments for an
autoconf-based package in the git configuration file, would you?

> and especially better than some
> complicated rule with multiple places to look for the information.

It's not really that bad: you can specify the information in whichever
place is most appropriate under the circumstances, and it will be found.

-- 
Matt