[dmd-beta] D 2.062 beta

[Andrei Alexandrescu]

On 2/10/13 2:37 PM, Walter Bright wrote:
> These things make me nervous - they are complex and when they go wrong
> it can be baffling. Is it really a problem to have the user simply edit
> the file to match his system?

Not sure how complex the script is, but generally asking users to edit 
makefiles to match does not scale well at all. IMHO there's a sort of 
goodness hierarchy when it comes to scripting:

1. one command that does everything, e.g. "./world" or "make world"

10. one command with arguments, and the exact arguments depend on the 
system, e.g. "make DMD_HOME=/usr/bin/dmd MODEL=64"

100. asking the user to edit configuration files by hand in order to get 
things done

1000. manual with a recipe with steps for getting things done

10000. folklore on how to get things done

There's a big drop in automation from one level to the next, and in 
particular there's a surprising drop from the command to the command 
with specific parameters.


Andrei