broken setup.hint files

[Gary R. Van Sickle]

Charles Wilson wrote:

> the hints may just be old.  Originally, the spec for hint files said
> "include curr and prev fields".  Later, it was changed to "that often
> causes confusion when folks forget to update the setup.hint.  Don't
> include curr/prev fields unless you must"
>

Actually (assuming you're referring to http://cygwin.com/setup.html), there's
nothing that specifically states or implies that prev/curr is "use only if
necessary".  Rather the language is, "In the event that a package doesn't sort
correctly [...] use the setup.hint current, prev and exp labels to override the
inbuilt sort during the transition period".  That, especially due to the mention
of "exp", tells me that its optional rather than only-if-necessary.  How about
this:

"
In the event that a package doesn't sort correctly (for example, from
"...-9-..." to "...-10-...", or from "openssh-2.9p2-3" to "openssh-2.9.9p2-1"),
the setup.hint "curr:" and "prev:" entries must be used to override the built-in
sort.  If your package *does* sort correctly, *don't* include curr: or prev:
fields in your setup.hint; it will only serve to cause problems later on if, for
instance, you forget to update it and nobody catches it.
"

That said, I have a few questions on this that I'd appreciate if someone could
clarify for me, as I'm trying to get a new and improved mutt package together:

- "The curr, prev, and test lines indicate which versions should be used for
which sections of that package. If any of them are valid, they replace /all/
versions in setup.ini."  What does that last sentence mean?  Actually since the
mutt packages will sort, I guess it's not that germain to me right now, but it
could still use clarification.

- "Note that [setup.hint] must be in subdirectories named after the package
(i.e. latest/cygwin/setup.hint is for the cygwin package)."  So... do I put my
setup.hint in a latest/mutt-1.2.5i-6/setup.hint in my binary .tar.bz2?  Or do I
provide three files, foo-nnn-n.tar.bz2, foo-nnn.n-src.tar.bz2, and setup.hint?
Or...?

Thanks,

--
Gary R. Van Sickle
Brewer.  Patriot.