[buildd-tools-devel] Removal of wanna-build from sbuild

[Roger Leigh]

On Thu, Mar 10, 2011 at 05:24:25PM +0000, Hector Oron wrote:
> Hello Roger,
> 
> 2011/3/10 Roger Leigh <rleigh at codelibre.net>:
> 
> > This mail is really just to find out: is anyone actually using the
> > wanna-build package in the archive?  popcon indicates that a few
> > people have it installed, and < 10 have ever used it.  Would
> > migrating to wanna-build.git be realistic for these users?
> 
> I was planning to start using a wanna-build instance, but i was not
> sure which one to use.
> As I have not yet started to use any of them I have no real objection
> for its removal, on the other hand I would not mind to try to merge
> current wb used on buildd with the one shipped in sbuild. Just let me
> know your preferences.

I think using the version in use on the Debian buildd infrastructure
is the better choice.  It's better tested, actively maintained and
in active use.  The sbuild version was superficially OK, but when I
checked as phil suggested, it's really not in good shape; as a result,
I've removed it now.

But neither are particularly ideal.  They originated as flat-file
Perl MLDBM databases which were later upgraded to use PostgreSQL,
but due to the interface imposed upon them by the historic design
are really not that well suited to the task.  Due to the limitations
in the design, there are a number of scripts running on the Debian
machines to wrap wanna-build to make it do more complex stuff, but
AFAICS these are not in wanna-build.git.  But all these layers of
wrappers are really just working around deficiencies in the core
design and interface provided by wanna-build.  I don't think it's
worth spending the time fixing it in sbuild.git; I was working on
a more complete modern database schema with dato, which may be
found in sbuild.git, and I'll be looking at making this into a
functional replacement for wanna-build, but without its legacy
baggage.  But for now, wanna-build.git is where the working
implementation lives.


Regards,
Roger

-- 
  .''`.  Roger Leigh
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