Re: groff-1.23.0.rc4 - no ./configure?

[Carlos]

On Tue, Apr 25, 2023 at 08:15:06AM +0200, Oliver Corff wrote:
> Hi Carlos,
> 
> thank you for directing me to the documentation buried in the two
> INSTALL.* files.
> 
> May I suggest that the information along the way of obtaining the
> tarball may be augmented?
> 
> My steps were:
> 
> 1. I went to https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/#downloading
> 
> There the text reads: The development version is available from groff's
> git repository <https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=groff>. Read the
> INSTALL.extra and INSTALL.REPO files within for build requirements and
> instructions.
> 
> Which reconfirms your point, but
> 
> 2. I went to the repository: https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=groff
> 
> It says: Browse Sources Repository
> 
> https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git
> 

Yes. It is sort of confusing.  A few days ago I ended up  in 
https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/groff/

which provided tarballs but I wasn't interested in the same version I've
been running so I ended up going directly to savannah and got the latest
one from there 

https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=groff

So at least, that section in the savannah subdomain was correct in
giving out the right informatino

> 3. I saw a list of tar.gz files, with the lates development version on
> top. So I downloaded that and unpacked it locally.
> 
> 4. Only then I saw the two INSTALL.* files and the instructions, but
> executing ./bootstrap just resulted in
> 
> 5. fatal: not a git repository (or any parent up to mount point /)

That's usually a call directly from git though. 
> 
> You may consider me being naive --- why do I stumble at things which are
> "taken for granted"?

Not really. Not at all. One simple interference with whatever we happen
be reading at the time, which in this case seemed to be the information
about getting groff sources and so forth,  is more than enough, to throw our
train of thoughts off completely . 

To top it off, it seems the website is using cvs while savannah is using
cgit. A constant back-and-forth between these two interfaces.

Besides. If you hadn't stumbled upon this inconsistency (if you want
to call it by that name), who would have? I can almost guarantee
you, it wouldn't have been me

> 
> Is it possible to insert a phrase somewhere either in
> https://www.gnu.org/software/groff/#downloading or in
> https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=groff that these tarballs cannot be
> used as is, but must be treated differently?
> 
> And, is it possible to put the information that these unpacked archives
> cannot be used directly at the top of the INSTALL files?
> 
> Looking at a list of source tarballs and *thinking* they can be
> downloaded, unpacked, configured and compiled is just enough off target.
> It seems I miss the necessary threshold knowledge here.
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Oliver.
> 

take care Oliver. 
> 
> On 24/04/2023 23:54, Carlos wrote:
> > On Mon, Apr 24, 2023 at 10:40:23PM +0200, Oliver Corff wrote:
> > > Dear all,
> > > 
> > > I went tohttps://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/groff.git  today to download
> > > the rc4 tarball groff-1.23.0.rc4.tar.gz and unpacked the archive.
> > > 
> > > How do I configure the makefile? I fail to see a ./configure script.
> > > 
> > > Thank you,
> > > 
> > > Best regards,
> > > 
> > > Oliver.
> > > 
> > > --
> > > Dr. Oliver Corff
> > > Mail:oliver.corff@email.de
> > > 
> > > 
> > Hello Oliver. The following is directly from INSTALL.REPO
> > 
> > Once dependencies are met of course.
> > 
> > 
> > Bootstrapping from a Git checkout
> > ---------------------------------
> > 
> > Invoke the bootstrap script.
> > 
> >      $ ./bootstrap
> > 
> > 
> > What bootstrapping does
> > -----------------------
> > 
> > The foregoing procedure will do two things:
> > 
> >    - clone the gnulib repository as a Git submodule in 'gnulib', add the
> >      needed gnulib source files in 'lib' as well as required gnulib m4
> >      macros in 'gnulib_m4'; and
> > 
> >    - invoke 'autoreconf', which will call the GNU Autotools ('aclocal',
> >      'autoconf', 'automake') in the right order to create the following
> >      files.
> > 
> >      -- INSTALL (a symlink to gnulib's INSTALL file)
> >      -- Makefile.in
> >      -- aclocal.m4
> >      -- autom4te.cache/
> >      -- build-aux/ (which contains all the helper scripts)
> >      -- configure
> >      -- src/include/config.hin
> > 
> > 'aclocal.m4' is a generated file; groff's m4 macros are included via the
> > 'acinclude.m4' file.
> > 
> > 
> > Building
> > --------
> > 
> > You can now invoke the 'configure' script.  It produces the
> > 'config.status' script, which generates the Makefile.  Then call 'make'
> > to build the groff project.  You can do these from the source tree.
> > 
> >      $ ./configure
> >      $ make # run with -j option if desired
> > 
> > You can alternatively build groff outside of its source tree, which is
> > cleaner, leaving fewer files to confuse 'git status' if you aim to
> > undertake development.
> > 
> >      $ mkdir build
> >      $ cd build
> >      $ ../configure
> >      $ make # run with -j option if desired
> > 
> > A separate build tree need not be a subdirectory of the source.
> > 
> > 
> > Evaluation
> > ----------
> > 
> > Several dozen sanity checks can be performed within the build tree.
> > 
> >      $ make check # run with -j option if desired
> > 
> > 
> > Installation
> > ------------
> > 
> > When the build is finished you can install the groff build artifacts.
> > 
> >      $ make install install-doc # run with 'sudo' if necessary
> > 
> > 
> --
> Dr. Oliver Corff
> Wittelsbacherstr. 5A
> 10707 Berlin
> G E R M A N Y
> Tel.: +49-30-85727260
> Mail:oliver.corff@email.de
> 

-- 
We are preparing to think about contemplating preliminary work on plans to
develop a schedule for producing the 10th Edition of the Unix Programmers
Manual.
                -- Andrew Hume