[erlang-bugs] reltool dependencies ignored

[Michael Truog]

Hi Siri,

Thanks for determining this.  I am not sure how the dependencies are used, it is possible syntax_tools wasn't being used where it is mentioned.  However, it really seems like this should be a bug simply due to the Erlang application startup.  I know the release (script/boot files) generated by this particular reltool file doesn't start these applications (with the problematic dependencies), but anything else that starts the applications would do so by the dependencies mentioned.  So, I don't see how this can't be a bug.  If xref determined that the dependencies were not called, it could remove the application dependencies from the .app file dependencies list, but having dependencies culled should be an option that you can turn off like it can be with modules selected with reltool.  I think culling the dependencies is a bit dangerous (especially by default) because it should be possible to have dependencies xref is unable to see (though I don't have a good example of this).

Thanks,
Michael

On 05/08/2014 08:20 AM, Siri Hansen wrote:
> Michael, it looks like reltool only follows the dependencies in the .app file (applications tag) for applications that are included in a release in the reltool config. For other applications that are mentioned in the config reltool only follows dependencies found with xref. I can not see that any of the applications that mention syntax_tools in their .app actually call any of the modules in this application from the erlang code. How is syntax_tools used?
>
> I'm not sure why reltool behaves this way, so I have to investigate a bit further to find out if it is a bug or not.
>
> Regards
> /siri
>
> torsdagen den 8:e maj 2014 skrev Siri Hansen <erlangsiri@REDACTED <mailto:erlangsiri@REDACTED>>:
>
>     ok, thanks! I will try this and continue digging :)
>     /siri
>
>
>     2014-05-08 10:41 GMT+02:00 Michael Truog <mjtruog@REDACTED <javascript:_e(%7B%7D,'cvml','mjtruog@REDACTED');>>:
>
>         Hi Siri,
>
>         I know the situation there is a bit unusual.  The external CloudI dependencies are moved so that the "cloudi_x_" prefix is added to all the external Erlang application names, their modules, and their header files.  The external dependency directory names already have the "cloudi_x_" prefix to satisfy include_lib usage within the modules (so that means external CloudI dependencies that depend on each other, in a way that uses a header file with -include_lib).  This is all done with the script at https://github.com/okeuday/reltool_util/blob/master/scope with the command line at https://github.com/CloudI/CloudI/blob/develop/src/Makefile.am#L7-L66 (i.e., atoms are selectively changed within the source code, along with the files being moved). However, that process doesn't impact how the external CloudI dependencies work.  The prefix is added to simulate a namespace concept which doesn't exist in Erlang to avoid any potential conflicts when CloudI shares the Erlang VM
>         with other Erlang applications.
>
>         That is unusual, but the reltool usage is the same either way, its just an addition of a prefix for referencing the names, as they are now.  The compilation process makes sure the prefix is added, so the external dependency files do change to satisfy the compilation, testing and release requirements.  While it would be natural to assume this process is at fault for the reltool issue, I am sure that is not the case.  You should be able to see this if you do a "./configure && make" of the root src directory, since that will make sure the files are as expected.
>
>         Thanks,
>         Michael
>
>
>         On 05/08/2014 01:05 AM, Siri Hansen wrote:
>>         Hi Michael!
>>
>>         I haven't spent a lot of time on this yet, but I was just trying to find the chain of dependencies that lead to syntax_tools, but I find it a bit hard I would appreciate some help...
>>
>>         I found one way but it didn't really make sense:
>>
>>         reltool.config includes application 'cloudi_service_db_cassandra', and in cloudi_service_db_cassandra.app.src.in <http://cloudi_service_db_cassandra.app.src.in> you have {applications,[...,cloudi_x_erlang_cassandra,...]}
>>
>>         Under the directory external/cloudi_x_erlang_cassandra/src/ I then find erlang_cassandra.app.src, which indeed has {applications,[...,syntax_tools,...]} - but this is obviously an application named 'erlang_cassandra' and not 'cloudi_x_erlang_cassandra' as listed above... so how does this work?
>>
>>         Regards
>>         /siri
>>
>>
>>         2014-05-01 19:42 GMT+02:00 Michael Truog <mjtruog@REDACTED>:
>>
>>             Hi,
>>
>>             I believe I found a bug that causes reltool to ignore dependencies when generating a release.  I am not sure where the problem is within reltool, but I at least have a way to demonstrate it. https://github.com/CloudI/CloudI/blob/develop/src/reltool.config.in#L78-L89 shows lines that are unnecessary within the reltool.config file. The dependencies mentioned there should be found automatically by reltool.  If you remove those lines and do a make install (after the autogen.sh and configure steps) you will see the dependencies mentioned in these lines are not there.
>>
>>             Thanks,
>>             Michael
>>             _______________________________________________
>>             erlang-bugs mailing list
>>
>

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