[Fedora-packaging] Build Environment Consistency

[Nico Kadel-Garcia]

The reason cpanspec and cpan2rpm work so well is because CPAN source
bundles have a well defined format, and doesn't accept packages that
don't follow those standards. Other packages often fail to follow
those. The inconsistencies between, for example, FSF packages, Apache
packages, Ruby gems, PHP modules, etc., etc. all have distinct basic
formats. Do not get me *started* on various Google "summer of code"
packages, and the abuse that X based packages, all of Dan Bernstein's
software such as djbdns and daemontools and qmail, and the rare
cunning and misnaming of old tols like RT. Just..... don't get me
started, we'll be here all day.

So unless you want to spend hundreds of hours trying to maintain a
growing bundle of exceeption handling, I really urge you to start from
one that woks well, such as the actively maintained cpanspec, and
expand it rather than starting from scratch.


On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 10:35 PM, Gene <dadealeus at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Thank you for your feedback, but I *strongly* disagree with your opinion.
>
> 1) 'cpan2rpm' and 'cpanspec' are designed to package perl modules into RPMs;
> nothing else.
>
> My script was designed to be able to package anything, and to do so in a
> simple, easy-to-manage fashion. While 'cpan2rpm' may be able to package a
> perl module faster than my script could, its inability to package anything
> else would hardly seem to convey a more "thorough" solution for packaging;
> especially considering that it also does not support pre/post/trigger
> commands.
>
> As an example, togo could easily package a perl module as well. I'll use a
> working example of packaging the 'perl-String-Format' module as an example:
>
> $ togo -c perl-String-Format; cd perl-String-Format
> $ mkdir -p root/usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/String
> $ wget -O root/usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/String/Format.pm
> http://tinyurl.com/ksq2zgu
> $ togo -f root/usr/share/perl5/vendor_perl/String
> $ vi spec/header #Supply summary and description
> $ togo -bp #Build the package
>
> -and the perl module has been converted into an RPM.
>
> 2) I've never heard of either of those scripts before.
>
> I believe that is a testament to the fact that build environment consistency
> needs to be addressed, and documentation and resources consolidated into a
> more user-friendly format. 'cpan2rpm' certainly looks like a great tool for
> the purpose it was designed for, but it won't help anyone who can't find it.
>
> Again, your feedback is appreciated, but please at least try out my software
> before replying in order to keep the discussion relevant.
>
> Best Regards,
> Gene
>
>
> On Tuesday, January 28, 2014 7:59 PM, Nico Kadel-Garcia <nkadel at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> I'm glad you've had a learning exercise. But may I point out that the
> "cpan2rpm" and "cpanspec" tools do a more thorough job of this, and
> you might benefit from reviewing those and expanding them rather than
> trying to write your own tools from scrartch?
>
>
>