Re: automake test driver for Guile scheme patch review

[Maxime Devos]

Op 20-11-2023 om 17:16 schreef Timothy Sample:
> Hi,
>
> Maxime Devos <maximedevos@telenet.be> writes:
>
> > Op 19-11-2023 om 18:17 schreef Karl Berry:
> >
> > > Hello Guile folk - back in May 2016, Mathieu Lirzin submitted a patch
> > > to add a test driver for Guile Scheme to Automake.
> > > https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2016-05/msg00000.html
> > >
> > > It was never committed. It's been seven+ years, so before doing so, I
> > > wanted to check if it was still useful, and valid.
> >
> > Useful, but I don't think it should be in Automake, because then the
> > test driver is harder to update and it would add yet another source of
> > bundling.
>
> Well, it’s already a part of Automake as ‘contrib/test-driver.scm’:
>
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/automake.git/tree/contrib/test-driver.scm

Last time I tried, "autoreconf -i" doesn't pick it up, so apparently 
it's not part of Automake in any way that matters, it's only part of the 
Automake repository. (Also, it's undocumented.)

Besides, if it were added to Automake at one point, it can be removed 
from Automake (and added somwhere else) at another.

> > Also, the test driver has been updated since then.
>
> That’s true.  Maxim Cournoyer added some useful features in 2021.
> However, these features do not affect Automake.  They only make the
> script more useful when running outside of Automake.  It would be nice
> to have them in the Automake version, but I guess Maxim would have to
> sign a copyright assignment for that.  (I’m not sure of Automake’s
> policy there, so correct me if I’m wrong.)

Looking at the commit messages, they are useful within Automake as well
do in fact, affect Automake.  For example, one of these changes is a new 
"--show-duration" option, which can be used within Automake by:

$ make check SCM_LOG_DRIVER_FLAGS="--brief=no --show-duration=yes"

(copied from doc/guix.texi).

> I think that doing nothing other than closing that patch would be a
> reasonable course of action.  :)

And how is "doing nothing" supposed to help with discoverability, ease 
of updating the test driver, clarity, unbundling and the goals of Freja 
Nordsiek?

Best regards,
Maxime Devos

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