[Buildroot] [PATCH 2/2] doc: add libtool issue as Know issues

[Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr>]

Arnout, Romain, All,

On 2016-08-16 00:44 +0200, Arnout Vandecappelle spake thusly:
> On 15-08-16 13:09, Romain Naour wrote:
> > Signed-off-by: Romain Naour <romain.naour@gmail.com>
> > Cc: "Yann E. MORIN" <yann.morin.1998@free.fr>
> > Cc: Thomas Petazzoni <thomas.petazzoni@free-electrons.com>
> > Cc: Arnout Vandecappelle <arnout@mind.be>
> > ---
> >  docs/manual/known-issues.txt     | 4 ++++
> >  support/legal-info/README.header | 3 +++
> >  2 files changed, 7 insertions(+)
> > 
> > diff --git a/docs/manual/known-issues.txt b/docs/manual/known-issues.txt
> > index acfe4ff..d89507e 100644
> > --- a/docs/manual/known-issues.txt
> > +++ b/docs/manual/known-issues.txt
> > @@ -33,3 +33,7 @@
> >  * The +prboom+ package triggers a compiler failure with the SuperH 4
> >    compiler from Sourcery CodeBench, version 2012.09.
> >  
> > +* [2016.08] The libtool patches are not listed as package patches due
> > +  to a technical issue. Thereby they are not taken into account by the
> > +  legal-info infra. This will be fixed in a follow up Buildroot
> > +  release.
> 
>  Personally, I don't see a reason to fix this. The only real fix would be to
> generate a patch file on the complete tree after the libtool patch has been
> applied to all ltmain.sh.

Funny how I almost told Romain the same on IRC. :-)

> However:
> 
> - The libtool patch will not even have been applied for AUTORECONF packages when
> 'make legal-info' is done without building first.

In which case we could overcome this with something like:

    package/pkg-autotools.mk

        # Defined only once, outside of inner-autotools-package:
        # Copy the libtool patches for legal-info.
        # $(1): destination directory
        define LEGAL_INFO_LIBTOOL
            mkdir -p $(1)/libtool
            cp -a support/libtool/*.patch $(1)/libtool/
        endef

        # Then in inner-autotools-package:
        define $(2)_LEGAL_INFO_LIBTOOL
            $$(call LEGAL_INFO_LIBTOOL,$$($(2)_REDIST_SOURCES_DIR))
        endef
        $(2)_POST_LEGAL_INFO_HOOKS += $(2)_LEGAL_INFO_LIBTOOL

This way they are saved, always, per-package. We can even add a little
blurb in the legal-info dir, beside the libtool patches, that briefly
explains what to do with those. We could also be smart and only save the
patch of the version of libtool needed, but that's probably not worth
the try...

Or, instead of saving that per-package, we could save then only once, in
a separate directory, legal-info/misc/libtool/ for example. I'm not too
fond of this, because then the legal-info for a package no longer is in
a single directory. I would prefer the libtool patches be duplicated for
every packages (autotools ones, of course).

> - This patch is pretty specific to buildroot, buildroot should be distributed
> together with the rest of the source, so there is no technical need to have this
> patch.

Why are they specific to Buildroot? They fix libtool idiosyncrasies and
weirdnes about static linking in cross-complation. They are definitely
not specific to Buildroot in anyway I can see...

> - ltmain.sh doesn't end up on the target so it's not part of the "complete and
> corresponding source".

Wrong. "complete and corresponding source" includes "the scripts used to
control compilation and installation of the executable." (GPLv2, section
3.)

> It is part of the scripts needed for building, but so is
> buildroot, so see above.
> 
>  So for me, the additional complexity of properly dealing with the libtool patch
> is really not worth it ("keep things simple"). The comment in README.header is
> sufficient. Therefore, I would not put this in the Known issues section, but
> instead move it to the legal-notice.txt. BTW, the current text about patches
> there is not up-to-date, because it still says that patches are not saved. I
> propose to change it to the following (copied from README.header):
> 
> * The source code for all packages; this is saved in the +sources/+ and
>   +host-sources/+ subdirectories for target and host packages respectively.
>   The source code for packages that set +<PKG>_REDISTRIBUTE = NO+ will not be
>   saved.
>   Patches that were applied are also saved, along with a file named +series+
>   that lists the patches in the order they were applied. Patches are under the
>   same license as the files that they modify.
>   Note: Buildroot applies additional patches to Libtool scripts of autotools

*autotools-based packages

>   packages. These patches can be found under +support/libtool+ in the buildroot
>   source and are not saved with the package sources due to technical
>   limitations. You may need to collect it manually.

*collect them

> > diff --git a/support/legal-info/README.header b/support/legal-info/README.header
> > index 1f3524f..6ba8b56 100644
> > --- a/support/legal-info/README.header
> > +++ b/support/legal-info/README.header
> > @@ -20,6 +20,9 @@ This material is composed of the following items.
> >     with a file named 'series' that lists the patches in the order they were
> >     applied. Patches are under the same license as the files that they modify
> >     in the original package.
> > +   Note: Libtool patches from support/libtool/buildroot-libtool-v*..patch,
> > +   used by autotools based packages, have not been saved due to technical
> > +   limitations, you may need to collect it manually.
> 
>  OK, but I think my version above is still a little better :-)

Oh, only so slightly! ;-)

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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