Detecing missing Build-Conflicts (Re: Upcoming FTPMaster meeting)

[Jonathan Nieder <jrnieder@gmail.com>]

Roger Leigh wrote:

> The other side to this is that fixing such bugs gains us very litle.
>
> If we have a guaranteed clean build environment + package build deps,
> we have as complete consistency as is practicable.
>
> If we have a random build environment + package build deps, we might
> occasionally find something that needs a build-conflict, but we are
> never going to get complete coverage
[...]
> The former situation is simple, robust and maintainable.  But the
> latter, it's a virtually intractable problem, and given the lack of
> concern about it up to now, it's not a major worry for most people,
> and from a cost/benefit POV it doesn't look practical.

I've built packages from source before, found missing build-conflicts,
reported the bugs and seen them fixed.  The whole experience was
pleasant.  I don't think I'm the only one.

This can be taken as a vote for or against automated testing for
such problems; feel free to pick your favorite and run with it. :)