[fpc-devel] fpmake patch 21-aug

[Michael Van Canneyt]

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007, Darius Blaszijk wrote:

> The following patch implements:
> - added EXTERNALZIP define to make bootstrapping possible (missing zipper
> unit)
> - implemented SearchFiles method which can search recursively and with a
> filemask (asterisk or questionmark) using MatchesMask function
> - implemented methods AddDocFiles, AddSrcFiles, AddExampleFiles, AddTestFiles
> in TCustomInstaller
> - implemented archiving of all files in TSources
> 
> Although the patch produces valid code, I also discovered some caveats in the
> process that need to be addressed. When using the fpmake.inc construct as in
> fcl\packages, a problem with the base directory arises. A package is written
> in such a way that files belonging to a package are described by using
> relative paths. This works as long as you create a fpmake.pp file per package.
> When using the .inc approach, all code is linked to the top level fpmake.pp
> file, which destroys the paradigm. The only thing I can come up with is make
> an ifdef per fpmake.inc (which is very ugly imho) or not to use this approach
> and make it possible to cascade fpmake invocations starting from the top level
> fpmake. Any thoughts?

This problem has been considered when implementing the fpmake.inc.

The ifdef with the directory name is already there. 
This should give you a hint as to the path that was taken then :-)

The idea was that a single fpmake could be used to install all FPC-distributed 
packages. By making it a single fpmake, the build process will automatically
take care of ordering. If you make it multiple fpmake files, then you must still
add some extra fpmake which 'glues' things together in the correct order; but then
the ordering must be done manually, and you need to add additional communication
between fpmakes. Quite tricky.

The current approach worked fine, so I don't see what the problem is ?

Michael.