GNU bug report logs - #54234
Dropping versioned docdir for license files?

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-guix <bug-guix <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022 08:37:39 -0500

Hello Guix,

Recently while packaging sysbench, I noticed that the gnu-build-system's
docdir expands to 'share/doc/name', while the 'install-license-files'
phase installs the license files to 'share/doc/name-version' instead:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
$ find /gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/bin
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/bin/sysbench
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/etc
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/etc/ld.so.cache
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/doc
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/doc/sysbench
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/doc/sysbench/manual.html
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/doc/sysbench-1.0.20
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/doc/sysbench-1.0.20/COPYING
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/bulk_insert.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_delete.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_insert.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_read_only.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_point_select.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_update_index.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_read_write.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_update_non_index.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/select_random_points.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/select_random_ranges.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_write_only.lua
/gnu/store/97q84ivbx8xa2lm3pn4pyb3i96n58i5g-sysbench-1.0.20/share/sysbench/oltp_common.lua
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

It seems to me it'd be nicer to have both agree on the same docdir.  We
could drop the version and use gnu-build-system's docdir, or alter the
default gnu-build-system docdir to use a versioned output.  The later
some more troublesome, as we'd have to do the same adjustment for each
build system, and I'm not convinced of the value added.  So I'd suggest
we simply normalize to use the standard docdir.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Maxim

Message #8 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>, 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022 15:43:44 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Maxim Cournoyer schreef op do 03-03-2022 om 08:37 [-0500]:
> It seems to me it'd be nicer to have both agree on the same docdir.  We
> could drop the version and use gnu-build-system's docdir, or alter the
> default gnu-build-system docdir to use a versioned output.  The later
> some more troublesome, as we'd have to do the same adjustment for each
> build system, and I'm not convinced of the value added.  So I'd suggest
> we simply normalize to use the standard docdir.
> 
> What do you think?

This does not really answer your question, but if we do this, we could
combine this with another change:

Some software does not work with a COPYING or LICENSE file, or they do
but also have other relevant licenses.  E.g., gnunet-scheme follows
REUSE and puts the license texts in a LICENSES directory and some extra
information in '.reuse/dep5'.  It would be nice if those were copied
as well.

Also, to partially answer your question: probably not all
gnu-build-system packages actually implement the 'docdir' option
and might even error out if it is passed.  Fixing these build failures
might be tedious.

Greetings,
Maxime.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #11 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
Cc: 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022 10:44:24 -0500

Hi Maxime,

Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be> writes:

> Maxim Cournoyer schreef op do 03-03-2022 om 08:37 [-0500]:
>> It seems to me it'd be nicer to have both agree on the same docdir.  We
>> could drop the version and use gnu-build-system's docdir, or alter the
>> default gnu-build-system docdir to use a versioned output.  The later
>> some more troublesome, as we'd have to do the same adjustment for each
>> build system, and I'm not convinced of the value added.  So I'd suggest
>> we simply normalize to use the standard docdir.
>> 
>> What do you think?
>
> This does not really answer your question, but if we do this, we could
> combine this with another change:
>
> Some software does not work with a COPYING or LICENSE file, or they do
> but also have other relevant licenses.  E.g., gnunet-scheme follows
> REUSE and puts the license texts in a LICENSES directory and some extra
> information in '.reuse/dep5'.  It would be nice if those were copied
> as well.

What is REUSE?

> Also, to partially answer your question: probably not all
> gnu-build-system packages actually implement the 'docdir' option
> and might even error out if it is passed.  Fixing these build failures
> might be tedious.

Even the packages using their own configure script probably would
install their doc under /share/doc/$name/ as this is the standard on FHS
distribution.  I'm not suggesting to tweak docdir, I'm suggesting to use
the default, non-versioned value.

Thanks,

Maxim

Message #14 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2022 16:59:25 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Maxim Cournoyer schreef op do 03-03-2022 om 10:44 [-0500]:
> What is REUSE?

See <https://reuse.software/>.  It's a specification + tool based on
SPDX.

Greetings,
Maxime.

[signature.asc (application/pgp-signature, inline)]

Message #17 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be>
Cc: 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Different license file name
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 14:55:34 +0100

Hi,

Maxime Devos <maximedevos <at> telenet.be> skribis:

> Some software does not work with a COPYING or LICENSE file, or they do
> but also have other relevant licenses.  E.g., gnunet-scheme follows
> REUSE and puts the license texts in a LICENSES directory and some extra
> information in '.reuse/dep5'.  It would be nice if those were copied
> as well.

You can use the #:license-file-regexp argument of ‘gnu-build-system’ in
such a case.

If the file name becomes common, we can update the default
‘%license-file-regexp’ in ‘core-updates’.

HTH,
Ludo’.

Message #20 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
To: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2022 14:56:13 +0100

Hi,

Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com> skribis:

> Recently while packaging sysbench, I noticed that the gnu-build-system's
> docdir expands to 'share/doc/name', while the 'install-license-files'
> phase installs the license files to 'share/doc/name-version' instead:

[...]

> It seems to me it'd be nicer to have both agree on the same docdir.  We
> could drop the version and use gnu-build-system's docdir, or alter the
> default gnu-build-system docdir to use a versioned output.  The later
> some more troublesome, as we'd have to do the same adjustment for each
> build system, and I'm not convinced of the value added.  So I'd suggest
> we simply normalize to use the standard docdir.

Fine with me!  We can do that in ‘core-updates’.

Ludo’.

Message #23 received at 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Andreas Enge <andreas <at> enge.fr>
To: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>
Cc: 54234 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Mon, 5 May 2025 15:16:21 +0200

Is this still of interest?

Andreas

Message #28 received at 54234-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Maxim Cournoyer <maxim.cournoyer <at> gmail.com>
To: Andreas Enge <andreas <at> enge.fr>
Cc: Ludovic Courtès <ludo <at> gnu.org>, 54234-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#54234: Dropping versioned docdir for license files?
Date: Wed, 07 May 2025 13:38:35 +0900

Hi Andreas,

Andreas Enge <andreas <at> enge.fr> writes:

> Is this still of interest?

I think I had found that some build systems would install their doc to a
version-less docdir, while some others use a versioned docdir, so we'd
have to ensure the various build systems are consistent, ideally.

I guess I or someone can send a patch if/when they get to it.

-- 
Thanks,
Maxim

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