GNU bug report logs - #11146
texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option in its dvi and pdf rules?

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Cc: texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option in its dvi
	and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 14:30:34 +0200

Severity: wishlist
thanks

Hello everybody.

Reading the texi2dvi manpage, I've stumbled on this interesting bit of
information:

  --tidy:  compile in a local *.t2d directory, where the auxiliary files are
           left.  Output files are copied back to the original file.
  ...

  Using the `tidy' mode brings several advantages:

    -  the current directory is not cluttered with plethora of temporary
       files.

    -  clutter can be even reduced using --build-dir=dir: all the *.t2d
       directories are stored there.

    -  if the compilation fails, the previous state of the output file is
       preserved.

    -  PDF and DVI compilation are kept in separate subdirectories preventing
       any possibility of auxiliary file incompatibility.

I think it would be nice if automake started to use the '--tidy' option of
texi2vi in its PDF and DVI generation from .texi files.

WDYT?  Most importantly, is the '--tidy' option supported by all recently-ish
Texinfo releases, or has it been introduced too recently to mandate its use
in Automake-generated recipes?

Regards,
  Stefano

Message #8 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 15:11:49 +0200

On 04/01/2012 02:30 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>
> Most importantly, is the '--tidy' option supported by all recently-ish
> Texinfo releases, or has it been introduced too recently to mandate its
> use in Automake-generated recipes?
>
I'll answer myself on this, by quoting the Texinfo NEWS file:

  4.9 (29 June 2007)
  * GPLv3.
  * texi2dvi:
    . new mode --build=tidy which supports compilation in a separate
      directory, where intermediate files are preserved.

So the option is almost five years old, and thus old enough to be
required in Automake 1.12.

I'll post a patch in the next days.

Thanks,
  Stefano

Message #11 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: "automake-patches <at> gnu.org" <automake-patches <at> gnu.org>,
	texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 22:49:43 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

References:
  <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11146>
  <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2012-04/msg00002.html>

On 04/01/2012 03:11 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> On 04/01/2012 02:30 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>>
>> Most importantly, is the '--tidy' option supported by all recently-ish
>> Texinfo releases, or has it been introduced too recently to mandate its
>> use in Automake-generated recipes?
>>
> I'll answer myself on this, by quoting the Texinfo NEWS file:
> 
>   4.9 (29 June 2007)
>   * GPLv3.
>   * texi2dvi:
>     . new mode --build=tidy which supports compilation in a separate
>       directory, where intermediate files are preserved.
> 
> So the option is almost five years old, and thus old enough to be
> required in Automake 1.12.
>
On a second thought, bumping the requirement is something better done
for Automake 1.13, after having given proper warnings in the NEWS file.
For Automake 1.12, we might simply explicitly add the '--clean' option
to the texi2dvi invocation.

I'll thus apply to two attached patches to master in a couple of days
if there is no objection.

Regards,
  Stefano

[0001-texinfo-don-t-clutter-the-builddir-when-using-modern.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

[0002-texinfo-warn-about-future-use-of-tidy.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

Message #14 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: karl <at> freefriends.org (Karl Berry)
To: stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com
Cc: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, automake-patches <at> gnu.org, texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2012 14:02:47 -0700

    Since the '--tidy' option has only been introduced in Texinfo
    4.9

More ordinary English syntax would be:
  Since the '--tidy' option was introduced in Texinfo 4.9

(Though the meaning is clear in the original.)

    The users should be warned about the planned behavioural change

I have the impression that Automake (mostly) uses American English,
rather than British English.  Since that's where it was created, after
all.  Hence, I suggest: behavioral.


The actual change seems fine to me, FWIW.

karl

Message #17 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: "automake-patches <at> gnu.org" <automake-patches <at> gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:20:09 +0200

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

[dropping texinfo-devel, as they shouldn't be interested in these details]

On 04/01/2012 10:49 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>
> I'll thus apply to two attached patches to master in a couple of days
> if there is no objection.
> 
Ouch, the new test case was borked :-/

And the change broke another test, 'txinfo18.test' -- which in truth is made
mostly obsolete by this change, and should thus be removed (and its still
relevant checks moved into the new 'txinfo-no-clutter.test').

The amended patch is attached.

Regards, and sorry for the noise,
  Stefano

[0001-texinfo-don-t-clutter-the-builddir-when-using-modern.patch (text/x-diff, attachment)]

Message #20 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
Cc: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, automake-patches <at> gnu.org, texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:23:41 +0200

Hi Karl, thanks for the review.

On 04/01/2012 11:02 PM, Karl Berry wrote:
>     Since the '--tidy' option has only been introduced in Texinfo
>     4.9
> 
> More ordinary English syntax would be:
>   Since the '--tidy' option was introduced in Texinfo 4.9
> 
> (Though the meaning is clear in the original.)
> 
>     The users should be warned about the planned behavioural change
> 
> I have the impression that Automake (mostly) uses American English,
> rather than British English.  Since that's where it was created, after
> all.  Hence, I suggest: behavioral.
>
Both your objections are correct, and I've amended my patch to address
them.

> The actual change seems fine to me, FWIW.
>
Good :-)

Thanks,
  Stefano

Message #23 received at 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11146 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: "automake-patches <at> gnu.org" <automake-patches <at> gnu.org>,
	texinfo-devel <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:45:25 +0200

On 04/01/2012 10:49 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> References:
>   <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11146>
>   <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-bison/2012-04/msg00002.html>
> 
> On 04/01/2012 03:11 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>> On 04/01/2012 02:30 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>>>
>>> Most importantly, is the '--tidy' option supported by all recently-ish
>>> Texinfo releases, or has it been introduced too recently to mandate its
>>> use in Automake-generated recipes?
>>>
>> I'll answer myself on this, by quoting the Texinfo NEWS file:
>>
>>   4.9 (29 June 2007)
>>   * GPLv3.
>>   * texi2dvi:
>>     . new mode --build=tidy which supports compilation in a separate
>>       directory, where intermediate files are preserved.
>>
>> So the option is almost five years old, and thus old enough to be
>> required in Automake 1.12.
>>
> On a second thought, bumping the requirement is something better done
> for Automake 1.13, after having given proper warnings in the NEWS file.
> For Automake 1.12, we might simply explicitly add the '--clean' option
> to the texi2dvi invocation.
> 
> I'll thus apply to two attached patches to master in a couple of days
> if there is no objection.
> 
Pushed now.

Regards,
  Stefano

Message #28 received at 11146-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11146-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#11146: texinfo: could automake start using the '--tidy' option
	in its dvi and pdf rules?
Date: Mon, 25 Jun 2012 12:01:08 +0200

On 04/04/2012 11:45 AM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>
>> I'll thus apply to two attached patches to master in a couple of days
>> if there is no objection.
>>
> Pushed now.
>
And the proposal for using '--tidy' in Automake 1.13 has been (basically)
implemented as part of this commit:

  <http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/automake.git/commit/?id=205c7572>

Actually, we ended up using per-manual and per-format '--build-dir' options, to
work around a bug still present in Texinfo 4.13 (but fixed in CVS Texinfo) that
could cause racy failures in parallel builds; but the effect of such option is
similar to the one we wanted to obtain using '--tidy'.  The commit message of
that change should explain in more details.

I'm thus closing this bug report.

Regards,
  Stefano

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