On Sun, Oct 07, 2007 at 11:32:30PM +0100, Colin Watson wrote: > On Tue, Sep 25, 2007 at 04:32:06PM +0200, Magnus Holmgren wrote: > > dh_movefiles(1) says that "dh_install is a much better program, and you are > > recommended to use it instead". Accordingly, I've changed the packages I've > > adopted from using dh_movefiles to "dh_install --sourcedir=debian/tmp". But > > it's not entirely clear to me just _how_ dh_install is so much better. And > > is > > dh_movefiles deprecated? > > It's useful for targets in debian/rules to be idempotent, so that you > can fix a bug and just run 'fakeroot debian/rules binary' without having > to do the build or install again;
Even so, most debian/rules binary rules are not idempotent, because debian/$package directories are not trimmed. If you remove files from .files lists, they'll still be in debian/$package and in the final package. Only if you run install again you are idempotent, because of the dh_clean call. And this is not only what maintainers implement, but what debian/rules templates give. Now, a bit OT, but i'd appreciate if dh_install would create hardlinks instead of copies. Mike -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
