* Mike Miller <mtmiller@debian.org> [2016-01-23 11:06]:
On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 19:04:46 +0100, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:Touching the target file seems to fix the problem: touch libinterp/parse-tree/oct-gperf.h I am considering adding this to d/rules. Any objections?Why not go the other way and touch the .gperf file and add build-deps on gperf, and bison and flex while we're at it? See also #798427.In general, Debian likes to build everything from original source files. Bison, flex, and gperf files are generated and packed with the source, but are not the preferred form of modification.
Is there are real advantage of doing it in the Debain packaging? I could imagine that it would be advantageous if the generated files present improvements in respect to the ones shipped in the tarball. In this case, we end up with changed files. However, as you have noticed:
I know this adds a risk of modifying a source file so there's no going back to a clean state (other than git checkout).
I think that keeping track of these changed files will be painful.My inclination is to avoid rebuilding the bison/flex/gperf files, unless it is strictly necessary.
Rafael