bug#31786: 'pre-inst-env guix --version' is not updated by new commits"

[ludo@gnu.org (Ludovic Courtès)]

Hello,

George Clemmer <myglc2@gmail.com> skribis:

> Ludovic Courtès <ludo@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> George Clemmer <myglc2@gmail.com> skribis:
>>
>>> Ok, cool. Thanks for the clarification. So... how about adding a
>>> footnote to '(guix) Running Guix Before It Is Installed' something like
>>> ...
>>>
>>> (3) The Guix version in the Guix build is set by './configure'. Thus,
>>> when guix is run from the Git working tree by './pre-inst-env guix' or a
>>> '~/.config/guix/latest’ symlink, the version reported by 'guix
>>> --version' is not updated by subsequent 'git pull; make' steps. To
>>> update the version (and rebuild everything), you may use 'git clean
>>> -dfx; ./bootstrap; ./configure; make'.
>>
>> I’m not comfortable documenting this because it’s nothing specific to
>> Guix.
>
> So to summarize: This behavior is a side effect of how GNU tools
> work. It is obvious to anyone who understands them. You don't want to
> describe things that are obvious. I understand.
>
> But I think many users don't have a clue about GNU build tools. They may
> be puzzled by how pre-inst-env works. I think the footnote would be
> helpful for them. I urge you to reconsider.

It’s not that I find it “obvious” etc.  This specific part of the manual
targets an audience of developers, and I think it’s reasonable to expect
this audience to know where to look things up.

The other aspect, from a maintenance and readability viewpoint, is that
we could quickly add up lots of explanations that we’ll have to keep
up-to-date and that may make more important information harder to find.

I hope that makes sense, but I’m happy to hear what others think.

Ludo’.