[Bug 1932033] Re: base EPICS compilation misses convertRelease.pl

[Jerzy Tarasiuk via Core-talk <core-talk at aps.anl.gov>]

For 'make' in configure/ directory the result in the installation directory
is the same, regardless of the workaround is used or not. By using 'strace'
(with options -f -e trace=file -o <trace-output> make 2> <error-output>

I found a difference in the "convertRelease.pl" usage:
* without the workaround: 4 times lstat(), all failing;
* with the workaround: 16 times execve(), 6 failing, 4 succesful;
  2 times openat(), both succesful; 2 times stat(), both succesful;
  2 times readlink(), both failing.

So the message tells something is not done correctly.

The script is told to convert configure/RELEASE file(s); and such a file
in <base>/configure/ contains comments only, therefore for a 'make' in
<base>/configure/ the script is do-nothing (unless the RELEASE file is
modified); but there are several non-empty RELEASE file(s) in EPICS,
and if their processing fails, the compiled EPICS may be incomplete.

However, at least some basic functionality is working. Finding whether
some functionality is affected by failure in the script processing will
take some time - at least it requires 2 full compilations with strace
to find whether RELEASE files are processed or not.

The "fix" line can be: CONVERTRELEASE=$(TOP)/src/tools/convertRelease.pl

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1932033

Title:
  base EPICS compilation misses convertRelease.pl

Status in EPICS Base:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  Seems the convertRelease.pl is to be used by installation scripts, but
  it is not found.

  The problem occurs when the installation directory is different from the source directory
  (I tried it by adding a file configure/CONFIG_SITE.local containing INSTALL_LOCATION=path)
  and the only mark seen are messages on standard error like: Can't open perl script ".."

  The reason for the message is that the EPICS installation scripts cannot find some script
  needed and likely its job is not done, resulting in invalid EPICS installation (it doesn't
  stop the installation and can be easily overlooked, unless the standard error is logged).

  The message dosn't tell the script name - seems a variable which is to specify the name
  contains an empty string when it is used and a file of empty name is looked for in the
  parent directory, therefore the name ".." (and later "../..") is in the message.

  I found 2 workarounds for the problem:
  1. Before 'make' copy "src/tools" from source to installation directory (the copy ​has to be
     in "<installation-dir>/src/tools") - the installation looks for the "convertRelease.pl" 
     there instead in the "<source-dir>/src/tools".
  2. In the configure/CONFIG_SITE.local add a line "CONVERTRELEASE=<convertRelease.pl-path>";
     I found it also needed setting execute permission for the "convertRelease.pl".
  Unfortunately, I don't know the Perl language and I am unable to make a real fix.

  All this was tried on Linux Ubuntu 18.04 having installed GNU Make 4.1, 
  binutils, Perl v5.26.1, perl-modules, GCC/G++ 7.3.0, libreadline-dev.
  Also, I tried it on NI Linux Real-Time 6.0 with the same problem
  (I didn't try the workarounds on the NI Linux yet).

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