Extending the dependency syntax

[Isaac Jones]

"Simon Marlow" <simonmar at microsoft.com> writes:

> I'd like to wrap up this little design issue which stalled.  I'll
> propose something a little simpler, which should hopefully be closer to
> what people are used to from other package systems, and which should
> translate more easily.

The more I think about your proposal, the more I like it.  I've
already thought of a lot of places where I could use it.

> To recap, the goal is to support:
>
>   - build options that result in an executable or library being built
>     in a different way, or with a particular feature.  The build option
>     may imply additional dependencies.
>
>   - a choice between dependencies, where the particular choice made
>     dictates certain configuration changes in the build info.
>
>   - a choice between configurations, for example building a library
>     with or without debugging support.
>
> An example first showing all the main ideas:
>
> ------------------
> build-depends:
> 	  ghc? (ghc >= 6.4, [ghc64] | ghc >= 5.04, [ghc-old]) 
> 	   | hugs? [hugs],
>         debug? 
>            (HUnit-1.0, [debug]) 
>            [release],
>         gnome? ( libglade >= 2,
>                  gtksourceview >= 0.6,
>                  gconf >= 2, [gnome] ),
>         mozilla? ( mozilla >= 1.4, [mozilla] ),
>         doc? ( haddock >= 0.6 )
>
> [gnome]
> extra-libraries: gnome
> extra-ghc-options: -DENABLE_GNOME

I would prefer something like:

configuration: gnome
extra-libraries: gnome
extra-ghc-options: -DENABLE_GNOME

to keep the stanza syntax consistent.

> [debug]
> extra-ghc-options: -O0 -DDEBUG
>
> [release]
> extra-ghc-options: -O2

Do you have any ideas for how to interact with environment variables?
I wasn't clear if your previous proposal included this or not... for
instance, you might want to say:

DEBUG=true ./setup build

(can you do that on Windows?)



> -------------------
>
> The semantics of build-depends:
>
>   - ',' means "and", just as it does now
>   - '|' means "or"
>   - parentheses group dependencies
>   - [name] means "read the optional stanza [name]"
>   - 'flag? dep' means "if the --enable-flag option is given, then
>     dep, otherwise nothing". 
>   - 'flag? dep1 dep2' menas "if the --enable-flag option is given
>     then dep1, else dep2".
>
> Additionally, we could have an --auto-enable flag, which has the effect
> of replacing every 'flag? dep' by 'dep|', and 'flag? dep1 dep2' by
> 'dep1|dep2'. 

By 'dep|' you mean "this dependency or nothing"?  So should the 2nd
example be 'deb1|dep2|'?

> This has the effect of turning on every option for which
> the dependencies are satisfied, which is normally what you want when
> building a package for local use.
>
> I'm not attached to any particular syntax, so feel free to suggest
> alternatives.
>
> This is somewhat simpler than before, and I think supports everything we
> need.  Comments?  I'm happy to implement if there's a concensus.

I'm pretty happy.  I think someone should put together a couple of
examples from questions we've had on here first, though :)

Do you actually like this better, or are you toning it down because of
my previous stressing over the complexity?


peace,

  isaac