[Refdb-devel] refdb-cvs relies on buildable MAIN branch

[David N. <dav...@sw...>]

Hi Markus,

I noticed today the MAIN/HEAD branch of refdb fails to configure:

..................................................................................................
<elision/>
checking for /teixsl-fo/tei.xsl... no
TEI XSL stylesheets ***NOT*** found
checking for Perl version... 5.008004
checking for Perl module RefDB::Prefs... RefDB::Prefs
checking for Perl module XML::Parser... XML::Parser
checking for Perl module MARC::Record... configure: WARNING: Perl module 
MARC::Record is required for some scripts

checking for Perl module MARC::Charset... configure: WARNING: Perl 
module MARC::Charset is required for some scripts

checking for Perl module Text::Iconv... Text::Iconv
configure: creating ./config.status
config.status: error: cannot find input file: src/Makefile.in
..................................................................................................

Before you point out, correctly, that users should use 
Release_0_9_5_stable, let me explain why it matters for the 'refdb-cvs' 
script.  The script initially downloads and builds the HEAD branch.  Its 
final act before exiting is to advise the user to change branches to a 
stable branch.  The reason it works this way is that I could not find a 
"generic" way for the script (actually, the 'cvs' program) to discover 
the available branches of refdb until it had actually installed a cvs 
source tree.  To "future-proof" the script I decided the initial, 
default, install should be the HEAD branch instead of 
Release_0_9_5_stable -- that way the script would not need changing if 
you decided to change development to another branch from 
Release_0_9_5_stable.

Unfortunately, the HEAD install fails at the configure stage.  Users do 
not get a working refdb installation and they don't get to see the 
message advising them to change branches.

I recommend refdb HEAD should be maintained in a buildable form even if 
you caution against anyone actually using it.  That way refdb-cvs will 
continue to work for new users.

Regards,
David.