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> They unhelpfully add a "Source Code" link, which would be great if that is what it was. Instead it is actually just a zip file of the repository at that tag.
by speg 11y ago
> They unhelpfully add a "Source Code" link, which would be great if that is what it was. Instead it is actually just a zip file of the repository at that tag.
Huh, if all the files of the repository at that tag aren't the "source code" of that release what is?
- striking 11y agoA ZIP file is less helpful than the GitHub interface pointed at that specific commit ID.
- JonathonW 11y agoIt's not immediately obvious, but the tag and commit links to the left of the release (under the green "latest release" label) actually do that. The tag link points to the tree (in Github's file browser UI) for the release, and the commit ID link points to the specific commit for that tag (in Github's diff UI). Trouble is, this isn't very discoverable, given that those two links aren't styled as links-- they're the same font and color as is used for the subheading with date and commits since, which aren't clickable elements.
- striking 11y agoSure. The issue is less with the functionality and more with how it's presented to the user.
- david-given 11y agoSource distribution packages aren't necessarily a simple snapshot of the repository. For example: for autotools based build systems you want to run autoconf and automake to generate the Makefile.in and configure scripts.
- maaku 11y agoAny reasonably complicated project has some pre-processing that has to be done for a source release. e.g. creating the configure script for autotools repos, or building the documentation. These steps can and should be automated, but github is not providing hooks to perform these automated tasks.
- rattray 11y agoWouldn't the output of that be the "distribution code" rather than the "source code"? Do your projects not have a README telling people how to build? Are you targeting a nontechnical or beginner audience?
- adrusi 11y agoThere's a long history of distributing source code already partially processed, and for decades, this has been what people expected when they download a source tarball. Newer generations were introduced to open source through github and are less familiar with this, but they also are rarely interested in source tarballs — they're interested in either the source code to contribute to (in which case they'll git clone) or in a binary distribution. Really the main purpose of source distributions is for packagers. Especially when you're creating pkgbuild scripts like for archlinux's AUR or gentoo or slackbuilds or macports or BSD, all the tools needed to build the source code become build-time dependencies for your package, which is annoying for people installing it.
- snuxoll 11y agoNot having to add autotools to a BuildRequires is nice, but hardly the end of the world as a package maintainer. I agree though, the contents of the repository at a git tag is not necessarily a source DISTRIBUTION - which is what most people who are compiling your software would want - especially when many of them probably don't know the autotools incantations required to generate the configure script.
- rattray 11y agoGotcha, thanks for the explanation!
- ossreality 11y agoI find the to be really frustrating. `tmux` does it, which means that I have to package it differently when I switch from a stable release to building from git.
- 11y ago