Re: New auxiliary archive script

[Ralf Wildenhues]

* Andrew W. Nosenko wrote on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 02:02:09PM CEST:
> On Sat, Aug 7, 2010 at 09:03, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > Darn, we need another name: 'archive' is likely too common when automake
> > is going to put all files with that name in the distribution of each
> > package using Automake.  No need to send another patch, but any other
> > good suggestions that fit in with the existing scripts?

> > Suggestions appreciated.
> 
> am-archive ?
> am-archive-helper ?

archive-helper is not bad, but a bit long.  I don't like the 'am-'
prefixes much for the name, the script doesn't necessarily have to
have close ties to Automake.

* Gary V. Vaughan wrote on Sun, Aug 08, 2010 at 08:40:03AM CEST:
> That's no different to the situation with 'compile'.  I think 'archive'
> is a perfectly good name as it is.

Well, the difference in situation is that 'compile' was introduced 11
years ago, when breaking compatibility was frequent; and that 'archive'
is both a verb and a noun, and being used as, well, a name for an
archive of stuff by people.  Cf. gettext, for example.

* Peter Rosin wrote on Sat, Aug 07, 2010 at 06:10:54PM CEST:
> I suggested arwrap, like ylwrap, but that message seems stuck somewhere...

Yes.  I hope that the mails have all come through by now since the list
server downtime.

> ar-lib is also fine by me.

Good.  I have an ever so slight preference of that over arwrap, simply
because I cannot pronounce the latter.  And we can re-interpret ar-lib
from "archive wrapper for LIB" to "archiver for libraries" if that helps
making it more general.  ;-)

So, I'm picking the script addition part from your commit, adding it to
the msvc branch and merging to master for now:

> +2010-08-06  Peter Rosin  <address@hidden>
> +
> +     Add new auxiliary 'archive' script, wrapping Microsoft lib.
> +     * lib/archive: New auxiliary script.
> +     * lib/Makefile.am: Add above.

> +     * tests/archive.test: New test.
> +     * tests/Makefile.am: Add above.
> +     * automake.in (@common_files): Distribute the 'archive' script.
> +     * doc/automake.texi (Auxiliary Programs): Mention the new
> +     'archive' script.
> +     (Optional): Mention 'archive' in AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR.

omitting the doc parts that mention AM_PROG_AR, and rewriting this:

> +     * NEWS: Update.

to be as below.

Further I'm fixing the archive and the compile script to use ! not ^ for
shell pattern negation, and using $me also in the --help output.

Should there be a verbose/debug mode in which the scripts print the
command(s) that they invoke; or even do this by default?  This could
help debug user failures in the future.

Wrt. the AM_PROG_AR implementation, __oline__ is a real nono, as it
causes spurious diffs in generated configure scripts.  I'll propose
an updated version.

Thanks,
Ralf

--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -6,10 +6,7 @@ New in 1.11.0a:
     is obsoleted by `xz' and `dist-xz' due to upstream changes.
 
   - The `compile' script now converts some options for MSVC for a better
-    user experience.
-
-  - New macro AM_PROG_AR that looks for an archiver and wraps it in the new
-    'archive' auxiliary script if the found archiver is Microsoft lib.
+    user experience.  Similarly, the new `ar-lib' script wraps Microsoft lib.
 
 Bugs fixed in 1.11.0a:
 
--- a/lib/archive
+++ b/lib/archive
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ func_file_conv ()
 {
   file=$1
   case $file in
-    / | /[^/]*) # absolute file, and not a UNC file
+    / | /[!/]*) # absolute file, and not a UNC file
       if test -z "$file_conv"; then
        # lazily determine how to convert abs files
        case `uname -s` in
--- a/lib/compile
+++ b/lib/compile
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ func_file_conv ()
 {
   file=$1
   case $file in
-    / | /[^/]*) # absolute file, and not a UNC file
+    / | /[!/]*) # absolute file, and not a UNC file
       if test -z "$file_conv"; then
        # lazily determine how to convert abs files
        case `uname -s` in