Retain --srcdir value across runs

[bdbaddog]

This issue was originally created at: 2007-06-10 13:09:10.
This issue was reported by: issues@scons.
issues@scons said at 2007-06-10 13:09:10

On May 8, 2007, at 1:22 PM, Maciek Pasternacki wrote:

... remembering user-supplied variables [between runs] is IMO important. ... should I leave this to Steven?

On May 8, 2007, at 8:19 PM, Greg Noel wrote:

I think we should start by nagging Steven for an update ... I know that the --srcdir flag has been added as an alias of --repository, but I don't know about saving it, or allowing additional saved values. Steven?

On May 9, 2007, at 9:33 AM, Steven Knight wrote:

I haven't done anything else w.r.t. saving values. Am I forgetting something?

On May 10, 2007, at 4:54 PM, Greg Noel wrote:

Yes. The --srcdir value has to be saved in some way so that it can be used in subsequent runs, and the scan-for-top-of-tree (the --up flag) needs to be able to find the saved value and apply it even if it's invoked in the build dir. It should be as if any invocation of scons within the build tree automatically has the has the same --srcdir flags as the original invocation.

One other nicety: if SCons can't find a SConstruct in the current directory and there's no -u, -U, -D, or --srcdir flags, try --srcdir=.. to simulate what ./configure will try. This would be a very natural paradigm for a GNU user:

mkdir build
cd build
scons

We talked about whether the srcdir should be saved in the .sconsign file or in a new file (tentatively called .sconfigure). If the former, it will take some logic to allow values to be saved and recovered; if the latter, it could be built on top of an Options() object, but will take some additional API (or possibly new conventions) to insert command-line flags (as opposed to variable assignments) into the object.

gregnoel said at 2008-02-09 05:29:32

Accidentally submitted as guest; add myself to the CC list.

gregnoel said at 2008-02-27 17:43:13

Since I see this issue as groundwork for future configuration work, I wanted to take another swipe at it. I created http://scons.org/wiki/KeepDataBetweenRuns to describe how I see it could be done (it had to go in a wiki page since my ASCII art isn't up to creating the tables).

I'm still hoping that this can be done sooner rather than later.

garyo said at 2008-03-17 20:20:57

Should be done for 1.x.

gregnoel said at 2008-12-26 13:29:10

Adjust triage of issues.

stevenknight said at 2009-11-10 18:00:19

stevenknight => issues@scons

Votes for this issue: 3.