Maintain multiple versions of the log files

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Original issue reported on code.google.com by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 9:31

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Sorry, pressed enter too early and cannot edit :)

My suggestion, keep the log files from all the invocations of latex, that helps
debugging quite a bit.

Suggested fix:

    $(call run-latex,$<,--recorder) || $(sh_true); \
+   $(CP) $*.log $*.1.log;\

    $(call run-latex,$*); \
+   $(CP) $*.log $*.$$i.log;\

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 9:34

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Oh of course, the new log files must be removed when making clean. I'm not so 
sure
how to do it so I won't provide a fix

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 9:55

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Interesting idea.  Do you have a particular debugging use case that would 
motivate 
this?  Such a change would represent a rather fundamental shift in the way that 
the 
makefile operates, so I would have to dedicate a good chunk of time to ensuring 
that 
it doesn't break anything.

But, with a compelling enough use case, I can probably justify doing it.  Just 
FYI, most 
of the time when I need a log file, I just invoke latex manually after doing a 
make 
clean.  Then I get the log file I need.  It's a rare enough need that I haven't 
added 
support for that sort of thing.

Original comment by shiblon on 15 Nov 2009 at 3:19

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Well, I did this to track the differences in the different passes of the log 
for the
back-references. (I wanted to make sure that the makefile reruns because of the 
new
behaviour of hyperref) There is honestly no use except debugging the Makefile 
itself
but I thought that it was a simple change that really was cheap to implement.

Honestly if you don't want to add support for this, I can totally live with it 
:)

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 4:19

[GoogleCodeExporter]

OOOH!

I think I didn't make myself clear (since you're saying it's pretty difficult to
implement). What I wanted is not a rotating log file, I just needed an access 
to the
log of, let's say, the third invocation of latex, which was getting overwritten 
by
the fourth. It is really simple.

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 4:21

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Oh, I see.  So, we could do this by *copying* the log file after each 
invocation, so that 
we have a history *and* the makefile doesn't have to know about the numbered 
files 
otherwise.  That actually is super easy, and I like it a lot.  Let me accept 
this and take 
another look at it.

Original comment by shiblon on 15 Nov 2009 at 4:31

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The fix is just above by the way, don't reinvent the wheel!

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 15 Nov 2009 at 4:37

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Sorry I didn't notice what you were doing earlier :-p  It has been a very busy 
week for 
latex Makefile issues, as you can probably see :)

Tiny modifications made to your suggested change and submitted as 
r952b965c6c4b.  
Give it a spin.

Original comment by shiblon on 17 Nov 2009 at 6:18

• Changed state: Fixed

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Ooh, it works, of course!

Original comment by fdemes...@gmail.com on 18 Nov 2009 at 8:10

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Thanks very much for the idea and the excellent solution.  My only regret in 
this 
process was that I was so dense about figuring out what you meant.  :-)

Marked verified.

Original comment by shiblon on 18 Nov 2009 at 4:59

• Changed state: Verified