Bug#88029: allow rules file to be non-makefile

[Julian Gilbey <J.D.Gilbey@qmw.ac.uk>]

On Thu, Mar 01, 2001 at 01:40:14AM +0100, Josip Rodin wrote:
> > RC bug, get the package removed until the rules file is readable.
> 
> It _is_ readable. :)

To quote a few juicy bits:

[...]
# core methods
DEBIAN . do_header : 'echo "==> [$($THIS . MAKE_LEVEL)] Making $@" 1>&2
        $THIS . MAKE_LEVEL =q $(expr $($THIS . MAKE_LEVEL) + 1)'
[...]
# I have to use ugly IFS magic here, otherwise things would fail miserably
        SAVE_IFS="$IFS"
        GOOD_IFS="      
"
        IFS="$GOOD_IFS"
[...]
        $THIS . do dh_installchangelogs
# This is Evil.
        $THIS . do rm -f debian/shoop-dev/usr/share/doc/shoop/copyright
        $THIS . do rm -f debian/shoop-dev/usr/share/doc/shoop/changelog{,.gz}
        $THIS . do rm -f debian/shoop-modules/usr/share/doc/shoop/copyright
        $THIS . do rm -f debian/shoop-modules/usr/share/doc/shoop/changelog{,.gz
}
# Evil ends here.
[...]

Parts of it are readable, parts are not quite so readable.  It's
essentially a highly simple package, and yet its rules file requires
"ugly IFS magic" and "Evil" code.

If this is the way things are likely to go, then I maintain that to
ensure we build good packages, we should stick with makefiles, which
are designed to do things just like this.

Or we could go and write all of our rules files in Python.  Now
there's a good idea!

   Julian

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         Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, Queen Mary, Univ. of London
       Debian GNU/Linux Developer,  see http://people.debian.org/~jdg
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