Re: [PATCH v4 07/24] python: add directory structure README.rst files

[Cleber Rosa <crosa@redhat.com>]

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On Thu, Feb 11, 2021 at 01:58:39PM -0500, John Snow wrote:
> Add short readmes to python/, python/qemu/, python/qemu/machine,
> python/qemu/qmp, and python/qemu/utils that explain the directory
> hierarchy. These readmes are visible when browsing the source on
> e.g. gitlab/github and are designed to help new developers/users quickly
> make sense of the source tree.
> 
> They are not designed for inclusion in a published manual.
> 
> Signed-off-by: John Snow <jsnow@redhat.com>
> ---
>  python/README.rst              | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  python/qemu/README.rst         |  8 +++++++
>  python/qemu/machine/README.rst |  9 ++++++++
>  python/qemu/qmp/README.rst     |  9 ++++++++
>  python/qemu/utils/README.rst   |  9 ++++++++
>  5 files changed, 76 insertions(+)
>  create mode 100644 python/README.rst
>  create mode 100644 python/qemu/README.rst
>  create mode 100644 python/qemu/machine/README.rst
>  create mode 100644 python/qemu/qmp/README.rst
>  create mode 100644 python/qemu/utils/README.rst
>

It's not often I complain about too much documentation, but I honestly
think this will not scale.  I understand that the intention is to help
users browsing through the directory structure it has a huge potential
for bit rot.

The READMEs at the first two levels seem OK, but the ones at the
subpackages level will be a maintainance nightmare.  I would *very
much* move those (subpackage ones) documentation into the Python file
themselves.

> diff --git a/python/README.rst b/python/README.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..6a14b99e104
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/python/README.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
> +QEMU Python Tooling
> +===================
> +
> +This directory houses Python tooling used by the QEMU project to build,
> +configure, and test QEMU. It is organized by namespace (``qemu``), and
> +then by package (``qemu/machine``, ``qemu/qmp``).
> +
> +``setup.py`` is used by ``pip`` to install this tooling to the current
> +environment. ``setup.cfg`` provides the packaging configuration used by
> +setup.py in a setuptools specific format. You will generally invoke it
> +by doing one of the following:
> +
> +1. ``pip3 install .`` will install these packages to your current
> +   environment. If you are inside a virtual environment, they will
> +   install there. If you are not, it will attempt to install to the
> +   global environment, which is not recommended.
> +
> +2. ``pip3 install --user .`` will install these packages to your user's
> +   local python packages. If you are inside of a virtual environment,
> +   this will fail.
> +
> +If you amend the ``-e`` argument, pip will install in "editable" mode;
> +which installs a version of the package that installs a forwarder
> +pointing to these files, such that the package always reflects the
> +latest version in your git tree.
> +
> +See `Installing packages using pip and virtual environments
> +<https://packaging.python.org/guides/installing-using-pip-and-virtual-environments/>`_
> +for more information.
> +
> +
> +Files in this directory
> +-----------------------
> +
> +- ``qemu/`` Python package source directory.
> +- ``PACKAGE.rst`` is used as the README file that is visible on PyPI.org.
> +- ``README.rst`` you are here!
> +- ``VERSION`` contains the PEP-440 compliant version used to describe
> +  this package; it is referenced by ``setup.cfg``.
> +- ``setup.cfg`` houses setuptools package configuration.
> +- ``setup.py`` is the setuptools installer used by pip; See above.
> diff --git a/python/qemu/README.rst b/python/qemu/README.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..d04943f526c
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/python/qemu/README.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
> +QEMU Python Namespace
> +=====================
> +
> +This directory serves as the root of a `Python PEP 420 implicit
> +namespace package <https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0420/>`_.
> +
> +Each directory below is assumed to be an installable Python package that
> +is available under the ``qemu.<package>`` namespace.
> diff --git a/python/qemu/machine/README.rst b/python/qemu/machine/README.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..ac2b4fffb42
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/python/qemu/machine/README.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
> +qemu.machine package
> +====================
> +
> +This package provides core utilities used for testing and debugging
> +QEMU. It is used by the iotests, vm tests, acceptance tests, and several
> +other utilities in the ./scripts directory. It is not a fully-fledged
> +SDK and it is subject to change at any time.
> +
> +See the documentation in ``__init__.py`` for more information.
> diff --git a/python/qemu/qmp/README.rst b/python/qemu/qmp/README.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..c21951491cf
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/python/qemu/qmp/README.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
> +qemu.qmp package
> +================
> +
> +This package provides a library used for connecting to and communicating
> +with QMP servers. It is used extensively by iotests, vm tests,
> +acceptance tests, and other utilities in the ./scripts directory. It is
> +not a fully-fledged SDK and is subject to change at any time.
> +
> +See the documentation in ``__init__.py`` for more information.
> diff --git a/python/qemu/utils/README.rst b/python/qemu/utils/README.rst
> new file mode 100644
> index 00000000000..4b33c1f27e1
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/python/qemu/utils/README.rst
> @@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
> +qemu.utils package
> +==================
> +
> +This package provides misc utilities used for testing and debugging
> +QEMU. It is used most directly by the qemu.machine package, but has some
> +uses by the vm and acceptance tests for determining accelerator support.
> +
> +See the documentation in ``__init__.py`` and ``accel.py`` for more
> +information.

And example of the bit rot and the huge maintainance cost is when a
new file is added here, let's say, "qemu/utils/network.py".  I think
your good intentions would quickly backfire.

Regards,
- Cleber.

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