[fU] Fwd: Buildtool 0.13 released

[Rusty B. <ho...@sb...>]

"nuts!"  This is from the buildtool-devel list.  I haven't looked yet
at converting to 0.13.

--Rusty


----------  Forwarded Message  ----------

Hi,

I'm pleased to announce that the 0.13 version of Buildtool has been relea=
sed.
As usual, you can find it in the homepage:

=09http://buildtool.sourceforge.net/

This version means a radical change over the previous ones with respect t=
o
files needed to control a package.  The main highlights include:

* The bt_sh module, an integrated shell interpreter.  This doesn't affect=
 you
  directly, but you won't have to care about shell portability any more ;=
)

* The buildtool.d directory is no longer recognized.  Buildtool will now =
use
 a single file, Generic.bt, placed in the top level directory of your
 project. This file is splitted up into functions, which have similar
 functionality to the independant files.  The conversion is very
 straigforward; see below. You must do this change in your project if you
 want to use 0.13.

* A new make-like tool has been added, bt_logic, which will eventually
  deprecate bt_make (together with bt_logic).  Both systems are kept now,=
 so
  your Makefile.bt files will still work.  Anyway, I recommend you switch=
ing
  to the new Logic.bt files as soon as possible to detect missing
 functionality and bugs.

I know these changes are a PITA.  Therefore, I have written a script that
 tries to convert a 0.12 project to a 0.13 one.  This script will be laun=
ched
 whenever you execute "buildtool <something>" inside a 0.12 project; it w=
ill
 ask you if you want to proceed, and then it will write a new Generic.bt
 file.  You will doubtly have to touch this (except for indentation issue=
s).

OTOH, converting from Makefile.bt to Logic.bt is a bit more difficult.  T=
he
script will tell you what to do (run "buildtool make tologic") when it's =
time
 to do so, but the conversion may lack some details.  If you have only us=
ed
 standard features, it should be able to do an accurate conversion.

As examples of Logic.bt files, you can check out the testsuite or the
 buildtool-doc package.  Both have been converted to the 0.13 framework.

The main problem maybe is that there is no real documentation for bt_logi=
c
 yet; it is likely to change in some aspects, so writting good docs now c=
ould
 be silly. Anyway, the distribution comes with a file, bt_logic/NOTES, th=
at
 includes several notes with respect to bt_logic.  If you know makefiles,=
 you
 should be able to switch your mind easily.

I've decided to release 0.13 now so that developers using it for their ow=
n
projects can start migrating them to the new framework, if possible.  If =
this
can't be accomplished by some feature missing in the actual code, it can =
be
easily (and sooner) introduced in the next version.  As soon as people ca=
n
migrate their own projects to the new framework, compatibility will be
 dropped (that is, bt_make and bt_wrap will be removed), thus decreasing
 Buildtool's size by around a 45%.

At last, the actual codebase has been tested in NetBSD, Solaris, Darwin,
Gentoo Linux and Debian Linux, and all portability issues have been hopef=
ully
fixed (aside from shared library building, which is still in the TODO).

If you have any trouble in the conversion, please let me know.  Suggestio=
ns
 and bug reports will be welcome too.

Good luck!