[PATCH] macros: Globally add --disable-silent-rules to configure

[Jim Meyering]

Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> On 08/13/2011 10:51 AM, Jim Meyering wrote:
>> Whether to invest in enabling -Werror for all packages in a mass rebuild
>> however is another question.
>
> Pardon, but this is not a question, this is beyond reason and foolish.
>
>> There will be many build failures, and
>> some will be unwarranted.
>
> Exactly ... and ... depending upon the gcc version, OS and
> architecture being in use, many of them will be bogus.
>
>> That said, if there are thick-skinned volunteers with the expertise and
>> enough time/energy, enabling -Werror globally (or even in a few selected
>> packages) and addressing failures would be great.
> Well, I don't see any thing great in this proposal - I find is silly
> and not even close to being discussworthy.

Hi Ralf,

Your opinion might carry more weight if you backed up your
abrasive comments with data, code or anything else that might be
construed as constructive.  Toning down the abrasiveness (or, gasp!
even trying to seem pleasant) would also have the advantage of
encouraging people to participate rather than pushing them away.

Whether to use -Werror as proposed really is not a black and white
issue.  It all depends on which warnings are enabled along with -Werror.
Obviously, if you enable no other warning option, then there's no risk
at all.  If we're talking about just a few that are carefully chosen
to minimize false positives, then a large percentage of the resulting
build failures will correspond to real bugs.

I'd start with -O2 -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=2 and something like
this subset of -Wall:

  -Warray-bounds
  -Wchar-subscripts
  -Wsequence-point

That's just off the top of my head, since those are useful and, IME,
seldom provoke false positives.  Note also that if you choose carefully,
then compiler/glibc versions need not come into play.  It's only if
you choose brand new (or otherwise unstable) warning options that the
version of the compiler matters.

Once you've resolved all of those, start adding ones like -Wformat=2 that,
while still very useful, do evoke more false positives.