Subject: bug#70999: Meson-build system fails to install license files

From: Dariqq <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 17 May 2024 09:26:38 +0000

Hi Guix,

I was trying to update a package using meson build system to its newest 
version and noticed in the build log

starting phase `install-license-files'
installing 0 license files from '.'
phase `install-license-files' succeeded after 0.0 seconds

Also other packages built using meson don't seem to have license files 
in the output.

I think the problem is that the "." directory is the "build" directory 
and not the source directory because in  meson configure phase we change 
directory to the build-dir.

The install-license-files function has an argument for specifying 
out-of-source builds and calling it with that set to #t seems to be able 
to find license files in the source directory in my limited testing.

Another option would be to specify the build dir in the ninja 
invocations without changing to it.

As meson only supports out-of-source builds I think this should be 
changed though I am unsure how to best do this.