Bug#640874: leave: debian/rules is not a Makefile
On Thu, Sep 08, 2011 at 10:50:33AM +0100, Colin Watson wrote:
> Nevertheless, merely having that doubt in developers' minds is a cost;
> 17058 packages can definitely use this technique, while for 1 package we
> have to think about it ... so I would still want to hear of a clear
> benefit to allowing this flexibility.
Every debian/rules file is a source of doubt - you can't rely on them doing
anything other than what is specified in the true elements of the API
- program arguments, environment variables, return codes...
The requirement that the internal structure of the program matches something
make(1) can parse did not really create a new API, nor did it do much to
remove doubt on what the developers can find when examining debian/rules
files.
It was just an arbitrary conversion of a single "is" to "must be" (in an
unrelated let's-use-consistent-RFC-like-wording drive) that went unchecked.
--
2. That which causes joy or happiness.
Reply to: