Re: The tarball's README has bad install instructions

Hi,

The top-level README in the source tarball says:

------------------<snip>---------------------------
See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install
PostgreSQL. That file also lists supported operating systems and
hardware platforms and contains information regarding any other
software packages that are required to build or run the PostgreSQL
system. Changes between all PostgreSQL releases are recorded in the
file HISTORY. Copyright and license information can be found in the
file COPYRIGHT. A comprehensive documentation set is included in this
distribution; it can be read as described in the installation
instructions.
------------------<snip>---------------------------

There is no INSTALL file, and although there is documentation
it's scattered in a bunch of sgml files.

I was going send in a patch that referred the user to
the on-line postgres docs but it occurred to me that it
would be possible to include the documentation in plain text
form in the tarballs. This would add at least 1.7M to
the size of the tarball, and complicate the building
of the tarball due to all the dependencies needed to build
the docs.

All the same, it's aesthetically pleasing to have build instructions
included in the tarball.

A minimal replacement of the above text might be:

------------------<snip>---------------------------
See the chapter titled "Installation from Source Code" found
in the PostgreSQL documentation available from
http://www.postgresql.org/docs/ for installation instructions,
supported platforms, and build requirements. A record of the
changes made between PostgreSQL releases is recorded in
an appendix to the documentation. Copyright and license
information can be found in the file COPYRIGHT.
------------------<snip>---------------------------

Is anyone interested in a patch that includes plain text
documentation in the tarballs? How about a patch to the
README per the text above?

Regards,

Karl <kop(at)meme(dot)com>
Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
-- Robert A. Heinlein

On 10.12.2012 21:19, Karl O. Pinc wrote:
> The top-level README in the source tarball says:
>
> ------------------<snip>---------------------------
> See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install
> PostgreSQL. That file also lists supported operating systems and
> hardware platforms and contains information regarding any other
> software packages that are required to build or run the PostgreSQL
> system. Changes between all PostgreSQL releases are recorded in the
> file HISTORY. Copyright and license information can be found in the
> file COPYRIGHT. A comprehensive documentation set is included in this
> distribution; it can be read as described in the installation
> instructions.
> ------------------<snip>---------------------------
>
> There is no INSTALL file, and although there is documentation
> it's scattered in a bunch of sgml files.

Which tarball did you look at? The INSTALL file is there in the 9.2.2
tarball at least:

~$ tar tvjf postgresql-9.2.2.tar.bz2 | grep INSTALL
-rw-r--r-- pgsql/pgsql 76825 2012-12-03 22:34 postgresql-9.2.2/INSTALL

Note that the INSTALL file is not present in the git repository, it's
generated and included in the tarball. See README.git.

- Heikki

On 12/10/2012 01:29:03 PM, Heikki Linnakangas wrote:
> On 10.12.2012 21:19, Karl O. Pinc wrote:
> > The top-level README in the source tarball says:
> >
> > ------------------<snip>---------------------------
> > See the file INSTALL for instructions on how to build and install
> > PostgreSQL. That file also lists supported operating systems and
> > hardware platforms and contains information regarding any other
> > software packages that are required to build or run the PostgreSQL
> > system. Changes between all PostgreSQL releases are recorded in
> the
> > file HISTORY. Copyright and license information can be found in
> the
> > file COPYRIGHT. A comprehensive documentation set is included in
> this
> > distribution; it can be read as described in the installation
> > instructions.
> > ------------------<snip>---------------------------
> >
> > There is no INSTALL file, and although there is documentation
> > it's scattered in a bunch of sgml files.
>
> Which tarball did you look at?

I made a tarball from head, but did not look at it. :-(

> Note that the INSTALL file is not present in the git repository, it's
> generated and included in the tarball. See README.git.

That's my problem, I had checked out from git.
Thanks and sorry to bother you.

Regards,

Karl <kop(at)meme(dot)com>
Free Software: "You don't pay back, you pay forward."
-- Robert A. Heinlein

On 12/10/2012 02:42 PM, Karl O. Pinc wrote:
>
> I made a tarball from head, but did not look at it. :-(
>
>> Note that the INSTALL file is not present in the git repository, it's
>> generated and included in the tarball. See README.git.
> That's my problem, I had checked out from git.
> Thanks and sorry to bother you.
>

To see what the tarball will contain, run "make dist".

cheers

andrew