Leftover junk

[Gary E. Miller]

Yo Richard!

On Fri, 7 Dec 2018 13:37:44 -0600
Richard Laager via devel <devel at ntpsec.org> wrote:

> Traditionally, there has often been a "make uninstall" target that
> removes everything that "make install" installs.

And traditionally it is flakey.

> Does NTPsec have a
> ./waf uninstall?

Yes.  And it is unavoidably flakey.

For example, it has no way to know that after the last NTPsec install I
then updated my Python, which changed the install locations.


> If not, and people care about such things, that would be the obvious
> thing to have.


And obviously NTPsec has it, and obviously it is flakey.

> Write it to uninstall exactly what it would have
> installed (i.e. using the current configuration).

Which, obviously, fails in the common case I just gave.

> That way, for people
> who care, the upgrade process is:
> 
> ./waf uninstall
> git pull
> # If needed: ./waf configure
> ./waf install

Which may leave you with nothing.  Better to know the new version can
build, run, and install, before removing the old working code.

> Note that you're running ./waf uninstall from the old checkout before
> upgrading.

Which can leave you with a brken system.

> For people who don't care about cruft, no uninstall action is
> required. They can keep doing nothing extra and keep getting the
> current result.

Or something different.  Like old python modules building up.

> For people where multiple installations are intended, this isn't
> uninstalling anything by default and thus is not breaking anything for
> them. If they choose to run uninstall, it does the most predictable
> thing (using the current settings) which has the highest probability
> of being useful instead of harmful.

Which, as you admit, leaves a lower probablity of less than total
success.

> For regular users using distro packages, the package manager tracks
> the files installed and thus handles cleanup independently.

Yes, but distro packages are out of our scope.  NTPsec does not do that,
the disto people do that.

RGDS
GARY
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gary E. Miller Rellim 109 NW Wilmington Ave., Suite E, Bend, OR 97703
	gem at rellim.com  Tel:+1 541 382 8588

	    Veritas liberabit vos. -- Quid est veritas?
    "If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it." - Lord Kelvin
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