Re: [Quilt-dev] [PATCH 1/4] Ensure quilt(1) documents the correct patches directory

[Raphael Hertzog]

On Fri, 24 Feb 2012, Jean Delvare wrote:
> > Is QUILT_PATCHES mainly used to provide a default value or to
> >  override the default value?
> 
> I don't remember ever setting QUILT_PATCHES myself, so I am not 
> necessarily the best person to answer this question. I can only imagine 
> use cases.

My use case has mainly been the one of Debian packages where we clearly
override the value in some specific cases.

My ~/.quiltrc has this:
for where in ./ ../ ../../ ../../../ ../../../../ ../../../../../; do
        if [ -e ${where}debian/rules -a -d ${where}debian/patches ]; then
                export QUILT_PATCHES=debian/patches
                break
        fi
done

> My rationale is: what sense does it make to temporarily override the 
> values in .pc/.quilt_patches? If the value is wrong for any reason, the 
> proper fix is to edit the file. If the value is correct then I see no 
> legitimate reason to override it. Can you come up with a scenario where 
> it would make sense?

You can consider .pc/.quilt_patches as a "cache" for QUILT_PATCHES.
If QUILT_PATCHES is set to another value, it would update the file.

(This is not the current implementation but in that scenario it
would make sense)

I'm not sure if users should know about .pc/.quilt_patches...

> debian/quilt.make is setting QUILT_PATCHES, but I think it predates the 
> introduction of .pc/.quilt_patches.

Yes.

> > The only answer that can satisfy everybody is to have 2 variables for
> >  the 2 use cases. I'm not sure if it's really needed though.
> 
> Agreed, but first someone needs to convince me that overriding the value 
> in .pc/.quilt_patches makes any sense.

I don't see any convincing use case either, except the problem that raised this
discussion. :-)

Cheers,
-- 
Raphaël Hertzog ◈ Debian Developer

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