Re: Request for information

[mike stump <mrs at windriver dot com>]

> Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2001 13:49:13 +0100 (BST)
> From: Andrew Stubbs <Andrew.Stubbs@st.com>
> To: gcc@gcc.gnu.org

> 1. What are the differences between the CVS repository and released
> tar files? I.e. What files are added/modified in order to create an
> official release or snapshot? Also, are there any differences
> between release tar files and snapshot tar files.

There is a utility called diff that will answer these questions with
slightly more accuracy than we can.  If you don't get a better answer,
I'd recommend it.

> I need to answer these questions so that I can set up a local system for
> patching, building and tracking the sources in a reliable and reproducible
> way (please don't just suggest CVS), preferably without any nasty
> surprises.

Sorry, answering the questions above won't get rid of the nasty
surprises.  :-( Though, if you build and have your build system wine
about the nasty suprises for a year, you will discover the occurrence
of the nasties will go down.  You'll discover things like, you will
need to re-create the object directory for each build, as it isn't
worth the pain otherwise...  and so on...

Another cute failure is when people forget to put a file in the to
touch list, and it gets recreated, and then in later updates, it gets
merged, and then the results kill the builds...  and you then have to
go remove the conflicted file manually.

There are so many bizarre failure modes, that listing them isn't even
worthwhile.