Building subprojects (Re: envy for "Writing Go Packages")

[Graham Fawcett]

Hey again,

On Thu, 13 May 2010 18:26:07 +0000, Graham Fawcett wrote:

> Hi BCS,
> 
> On Thu, 13 May 2010 17:31:34 +0000, BCS wrote:
> 
>>> (b) derives the list of files by including all *.d files, except those
>>> in directories named 'test' and except those which contain a main()
>>> function.
>> 
>> I'm thinking of how to make this work for the simple publication model
>> of "Put it all out via HTTP/SVN/CVS/GIT/etc.". Anything that works for
>> that should generalize well.
> 
> Yes, agreed, 'simple publication' is what I hope to target. I'm
> confident that issues like versioning, dependencies, and cataloguing can
> be addressed once 'simple publication' is stable.
> 
>> How about: Download files as needed to do imports from any local code
>> but don't build them. Once you have copies of everything you need,
>> build one lib per mapping rule that includes everything retrieved via
>> that rule. At that point the name doesn't hardly matter at all. You can
>> make it the FQN of the mapped package if you want it easy to interpret.
> 
> If I follow you, then the naming of libraries (or pre-compilation of
> libraries at all) is a non-issue: we download the necessary source
> files, cherry-pick the ones needed for our project, and compile them
> together. Or let the compiler do the cherry-picking for us: just make
> sure everything is "included" properly when we invoke the compiler, and
> it can discover all the necessary modules.
> 
> I have a prototype that does roughly that already, but I was concerned
> others might think the lack of a pre-compiled library was too hackish
> (though I quite like it!). I think I'll proceed, and come back with some
> sample code.

OK, I'm back. :) I've put a copy of my prototype, here:

http://github.com/gmfawcett/d-build

The name 'd-build' is a bit misleading, but I have nothing better to
call it.

Currently it's a Python script -- sorry, I can still prototype a lot
faster in Python -- but a D version will follow if there is interest.

If you're interested, please visit the github link and read the README
to get an idea of what it does (and doesn't do). If you look at the
DEPS file, you'll see the amazing way that I specify a dependency on a
specific verision of an external project.

At this point, it's so simple that it's almost a "so what" -- but I
think it is a promising start. Once the mechanics are down pat, the
fun begins.

Best,
Graham