[debhelper-devel] Bug#415396: Bug#415396: "dh_install --list-missing" should ignore manpages and other installed files

[Niels Thykier]

Michael Stapelberg:
> On Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 9:43 PM, Niels Thykier <niels at thykier.net> wrote:
> 
>> Michael Stapelberg:
>>> Sorry for the late reply.
>>>
>>
>> Hi again, :)
>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> By “defer it”, what exactly do you mean? Checking for files which were
>> not
>>> installed?
>>>
>>
>> Put the logic into a separate helper, which has - as sole purpose - the
>> responsibility for doing "list/fail-on-missing" checks.
>>
> 
> Thanks for clarifying. Would dh_missing be an okay name?
> 

I believe it would.  I did think of a couple of alternatives as well:
 * dh_missing
 * dh_check-missing
 * dh_check-not-installed

(The latter due to the "config" file being called "debian/not-installed").

If you write the tool, you get to decide the name :)  (within reason :P)

> 
>>
>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>
>> To begin with, I think I would just log the original pattern (for source
>> files) and let this new helper "re-expand" it.  If performance becomes
>> an issue, we can revisit that decision.  The simpler it is to retro-fit
>> this new functionality into an existing helper, the easier we can have
>> "third-party" tools adopt it. :)
>>
> 
> Makes sense.
> 
> I looked at dh_installdocs and it’s actually way more complicated than I
> imagined.
> 

The current check is only looking at "SOURCEDIR" (with "." converted
into "debian/tmp").  As I recall, dh_installdocs pulls its source files
from "." and "debian" so it is should not be affected (at lot at least).

> It’s too bad we don’t have a point through which all files must pass (like
> install_file), otherwise the change would be simple.
> 

Indeed.  In fact, invented install_file (et al) is a recent invention to
prepare for things like this.   Although it had less coverage than I had
hoped.

> Would it be okay to convert the helpers one-by-one to use the new
> mechanism? If not, I don’t think I have enough motivation to actually
> update all dh_* programs to log their files.
> 
> [...]

Yes, provided that the conversion is backwards compatible.

I think dh_install and dh_installman would be the two starting points.
Once we have those, we can enable the new tool in compat 11 and see how
it works (plus do some incremental improvements from there).

Thanks,
~Niels