Re: dh_install vs. dh_movefiles
On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 11:32:30PM +0100, Colin Watson wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 25, 2007 at 04:32:06PM +0200, Magnus Holmgren wrote:
> > dh_movefiles(1) says that "dh_install is a much better program, and you are
> > recommended to use it instead". Accordingly, I've changed the packages I've
> > adopted from using dh_movefiles to "dh_install --sourcedir=debian/tmp". But
> > it's not entirely clear to me just _how_ dh_install is so much better. And is
> > dh_movefiles deprecated?
>
> It's useful for targets in debian/rules to be idempotent, so that you
> can fix a bug and just run 'fakeroot debian/rules binary' without having
> to do the build or install again;
Even so, most debian/rules binary rules are not idempotent, because
debian/$package directories are not trimmed. If you remove files from
.files lists, they'll still be in debian/$package and in the final
package. Only if you run install again you are idempotent, because of
the dh_clean call.
And this is not only what maintainers implement, but what debian/rules
templates give.
Now, a bit OT, but i'd appreciate if dh_install would create hardlinks
instead of copies.
Mike
Reply to: