Re: [PATCH] maint: Allow gnulib's readutmp module to use systemd.

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Simon and Collin,

> > Could putting the following into bootstrap.conf be a method that
> > we could recommend?  Then developers can override it with
> > GNULIB_TOOL_IMPL=sh ./bootstrap if they want.
> > 
> > GNULIB_TOOL_IMPL=${GNULIB_TOOL_IMPL:-py}
> 
> I'd like to hear what Bruno thinks about this idea. I think this might
> be a good starting point for real-world testing. Maybe we can disable
> it by default in bootstrap.conf, but leave a comment saying it is a
> work-in-progress and experimental?

It's simpler than that: The GNULIB_TOOL_IMPL environment variable was
designed in such a way that no autogen.sh and no bootstrap.conf needs
modifications.

As of today, any developer can set this environment variable to 'py'
or 'sh+py' and see whether they get regressions.

In a short while (when the test suite passes and Collin has tried it
with a few more GNU packages), the likelihood of such regressions will
be small, and it will be possible to *recommend* it.

In a longer while, we will make GNULIB_TOOL_IMPL=py the default, and
there will be nothing else to recommend, because everyone will get
the benefit of the speedup.

So, Simon, as a package maintainer:
  - You can try it yourself,
  - You can spread the work to your co-maintainers,
  - But it's pointless to modify your autogen.sh or bootstrap.conf files.

Bruno