Messages in this thread | | | Date | Fri, 31 Jan 2003 20:06:33 -0500 | From | Pete Zaitcev <> | Subject | Re: Perl in the toolchain |
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> The fact of the matter is, the area of build tools matters most to > people who cross-compile their kernels, because every tool is generally > hand-built rather than automatically installed on their Linux system. > For this audience, as well as the typical non-cross-compiling kernel > developer, Perl is on their system.
Sure, but I want to self-host, too. I can cross-compile kernels, but cross-compiling modutils is an insane pain, for example, so to this day I never ever used Rusty's new shiny module loader, and thus I never got around to fix dots in export symbols.
For the record, the userland which I posess does have a somewhat working Perl RPM, which originates from Red Hat 5.2, I believe. So, I cannot invoke "missing perl" argument in good conscience. However, I shudder to think what happens if I need to rebuild it for some reason.
> However, that fact is less significant than the more basic and core > argument: > > klibc uses perl for text munging. i.e. one of Perl's acknowledged > strengths. This is not a case of choosing a favorite script language, > but instead a case of choosing "the right tool for the job." Regardless > of whether you think Perl is line noise :) or not, from a technical > basis Perl is clearly superior to sed+awk in this case.
I hear you. Actually, your argument comes in force only after a non-trivial amount of mungling, but to slay your argument I need to see your klibc stuff first.
> Adding some final thoughts, perl is already used in nooks and crannies > in the build system. Instead of being motivated to stomp those out, > please [respectfully!] consider that the Perl scripts might be there > because an evaluation of the best tool for the job took place. > script_asm.pl in drivers/scsi is a favorite example here.
There's also a subject of a skillset. I know nil about Perl. (ok, I hacked sirc long ago. I don't think it counts.) This means I cannot debug and fix your text mungling. Perl not only has a reputation for being perfect for text mungling, but also a reputation for being unreadable by anyone but the author (due to the fact that the same thing can be expressed in a half a dozen different ways - so says Larry Wall himself in my Perl book (ok, he actually makes strict subsets of knowledge, which helps very little in my example ("Programming Perl", p33 - What You Don't Know...))).
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