Verify/reimplement the --local-liblarch parameter?

[nekohayo]

The "docs/gtg.1" file has this mention that intrigued me:

--local-liblarch
Use local liblarch. Look for the liblarch python library in ../liblarch.
This is mainly useful for testing purpose.

The related code was introduced by @izidormatusov in commit 6be1ec24b in 2012. In commit a043f92121d, the "run-tests" script was made to use that parameter too.

However, nowadays, there are no traces of that code in:

• gtg.sh
• scripts/debug.sh
• GTG/gtg
• run_tests (even that file seems to be completely gone these days)

The feature seems to have been removed without explanation in commit 5131f6fae6 in 2014.

That's unfortunate, because I thought it was really cool and would come in handy especially in a world without pip3 (or in the context of weird things like #320).

So I'm wondering if there's a particular reason why this was removed in @izidormatusov's commit 5131f6fae6, or if there is a better way with @leio's meson work these days, or if there is no way this can work anymore and the only thing left to do is to remove that from the manpage...

[izidormatusov]

The original solution had made a lots of assumptions: that the liblarch is in ../liblarch and such. The proper pythonic solution is to use virtualenvs: https://docs.python.org/3/tutorial/venv.html

GTG code does not need to set the expectation where the liblarch is present and such. Virtualenv makes the regular imports to work.

As I do not actively contribute, I do not have a strong feeling about this. Feel free to revert the change if you want to.

[nekohayo]

Would virtualenvs already work out of the box or something needs to be done here other than documenting this for contributors (and removing references to the unavailable --local-liblarch parameter)?

[izidormatusov]

Virtualenvs should work out of the box:

Initial setup:

python3 -m venv --prompt gtg --system-site-packages .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip3 install -r requirements.txt

When working on GTG (e.g. opening a new shell):

source .venv/bin/activate
./scripts/debug.sh

If you want to install your local liblarch copy (relative paths should work fine):

pip install git+file:///path/to/your/liblarch#egg=liblarch

[izidormatusov]

forgot to include references:

• Python virtual environment tutorial
• Python venv library documentation
• Hitchhiker's guide to pipenv & virtual environments