Tim Rowledge wrote:
> Jimmie Houchin <jhouchin at texoma.net> wrote: 
>>Tim Rowledge wrote:
>>
>>>Jimmie, the first thing you should do is RTFM; in the VMMakerTool,
>>>press the help button. Really, it helps :-)
>>
>>True. However, I did that twice before sending the original message.
>>Now a third time after your admonition. :)
>>And yes as per its instructions I did read the class comment. ;)
> 
> Good chap. IIRC the help should also direct you to the swiki pages.

Been there, did that too. :)

>> From a naive, never used VMMaker and have no idea what to expect or 
>>what it (VMMaker) expects, it was not apparent to me that the generated 
>>src directory should be in next to the cvs source directory.
> 
> Hmm, I wouldn't say _should_ so much as normally seems to end up that
> way. As I said, the VMMTool lets you edit the paths if you want to. I
> suppose there is probably some explanation that could be added.

I did edit the path but only after Ned told me where to put it. ;)

> [snip]
> 
>>Yes the default dir is what I had. I did not know whether or not VMMaker 
>>would read the sources from the source directory and generate new files 
>>in the generated sources directory or how VMMaker was handling the 
>>situation.
> 
> It's actually hard to provide a general answer here. The 'normal'
> procedure is that the generated code is put in a tree called 'src' in
> your working directory, the handwritten code is in 'platforms' and
> the makefiles deal with it.

It would be potentially of benefit if the VM maintainers would let us 
know what their requirements are for source placement criteria are for 
their make files or compilation setup. Or if possible there could be a 
consensus for Squeak source setup. I know nothing of the cross-platform 
issues.

I knew I would have to place things where the configure and make files 
could process it properly. I just didn't know where that was.

> Things get more complicated in the details and we should probably try to
> simplify.

That would be nice. If not reasonable, explicit communication (README) 
or something for those choosing to build using VMMaker as to what each 
platform requires for its build system.

[snip]

>>One comment on the Find Path method.
>>
>>It claimed it may take a while. Not a problem.
>>It seems (maybe naively) that most platforms have a general place(s) 
>>where source resides. I know there can be a little variety.
>>I place mine in /usr/local/src others might have used /opt/... etc.
>>But still it is in general for most cases a relatively small finite 
>>number. Maybe we can create a list of the most common places for source 
>>to reside to search first. Then upon failure search from root.
> 
> Too naive unfortunately. The FindPath can potentially end up hitting a
> connection to a server - or two, or three and go down their filesystems
> searching. That's why the warning.... 

Why would an initial list of intelligently chosen, normal source 
directories for common platforms being given preference to/before a 
brute force search from root be a problem?

>>With regard to the platforms dir. Maybe we could have some suggested 
>>locations for it if the user (like me) did not have the sources and had 
>>to go retrieve them. I chose /usr/local/src because it seemed like a 
>>reasonable choice, not because of any particular knowledge or 
>>understanding. :)
> 
> I _think_ there is information on this on the swiki pages but I would be
> the first to agree that they could do with cleaning up. Someone with
> some spare time could do us all a service by doing some editorial work.

If it would be of benefit I'll see about writing up a VMMaker QuickStart 
Guide which could be commented on by more knowledgeable souls if I ere.

It could help people from travelling down my path. :)

Thanks again.

Jimmie Houchin