[OE-core] [OE-Core][master][PATCH] standard.py: Provide an additional option for devtool reset

[Chandana Kalluri]

Hello,

For me this was more useful for second scenario where I had to run devtool finish and re run devtool modify. 
This makes it easier to test changes or add new feature to devtool add/modify/ commands. 

Thanks,
Chandana

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Eggleton <paul.eggleton at linux.intel.com> 
Sent: Monday, March 4, 2019 12:17 PM
To: openembedded-core at lists.openembedded.org; Chandana Kalluri <ckalluri at xilinx.com>
Subject: Re: [OE-core] [OE-Core][master][PATCH] standard.py: Provide an additional option for devtool reset

On Friday, 8 February 2019 2:57:32 PM NZDT Sai Hari Chandana Kalluri wrote:
> The devtool reset command cleans the sysroot for a recipe in workspace.
> It also removes the append file but leaves the source code as in 
> workspace. The source is not cleaned intentionally and the user has to 
> manually remove it before calling devtool modify again.
> 
> Provide the user with an option to remove the source code from 
> workspace by adding a flag to the devtool reset command. The 
> --rm-source option for the devtool reset command will also clean the 
> source code from the workspace along with the sysroot and the append file.
> Ex: devtool reset --rm-source zip or devtool reset -r zip

When I wrote this I made a conscious decision not to delete the source, in case the user has unsaved work in the source tree; at least then the user has to take an explicit step (an additional rm -rf) in order to delete it. You might argue that adding an option is the same as that explicit step, but I am still hesitant as you might for example pick a previously used command from your command history with -r in it and only realise after you've run it that you've just blown away a bunch of your work.

However, I have received the feedback from a number of people that they find it annoying that they have to delete the source themselves before being able to run devtool on the recipe again. I'd like to hear from the wider community on the following two questions:

1) Does the convenience of having this kind of option outweigh the potential danger of deleting unsaved work?

2) Are there issues that anyone is experiencing that force you to run devtool clean/finish and then re-run devtool modify (or add, or upgrade), making this kind of situation come up more frequently? Or is it mostly that the source directories end up being left around to stumble over some time later?

Cheers,
Paul

-- 

Paul Eggleton
Intel Open Source Technology Centre