[Cucumber-linux-development] New Buildscript Format

[Scott C. <sc...@cu...>]

Hello All,

As I have previously alluded to and as most of you probably already
know, we will be changing the buildscript format for Cucumber Linux 2.0.
This is something that every developer I have spoken to has suggested
doing, so hopefully this won't be too controversial a decision. Here is
my rationale behind it:

The original buildscript format was heavily inspired by the Slackware
.SlackBuild format. This allowed for the entire buildscript to be
located in a single file that could be run on its own, without the
presence of a build infrastructure. While this is convenient, it has
started to become a little unmanageable for the following reasons:

  * It doesn't use any form of templates. This means it is not possible
    to make any sort of global change without manually editing every
    single buildscript.
  * It doesn't sufficiently track information about the package's
    upstream. For example, it would be very helpful if the build system
    could track (amongst other things):
      o What the upstream URL is for a project.
      o What the signature/checksum of the source tarball is.
      o What PGP keys are valid for signing each package's source tarballs.

I have created a git repository at
https://github.com/cucumberlinux/new-buildscript-format. This repository
will hold prototypes for all of the contenders for the new format.
Currently, there is one new format in there that I have started working
on: buildscript-buildinfo
(https://github.com/cucumberlinux/new-buildscript-format/tree/master/buildscript-buildinfo-format).
There is a README in that directory explaining how it works. Please feel
free to comment away either on this mailing list or on GitHub. Also,
feel free to fork the repository and modify my prototype or make your own.

If possible, I would ideally like to decide on a new buildscript format
by 2018-05-14 so that we can move forward with starting on the ports
tree (see
https://sourceforge.net/p/cucumber-linux/mailman/message/36296253/);
however, this is a large decision so I don't want to rush the process
too much: if it takes a little longer that's ok. Also we will be
starting work on the ports tree before we start work on Cucumber Linux
2.0. This will allow us to use the ports tree as a testing ground for
the new buildscript format before it becomes set in stone.

    - Scott