[Pkg-zsh-devel] Bug#934926: Bug#934926: update (overridding of default fpath causes uncessary complexity and pain for software providing zsh completions)

[Frank Terbeck]

Axel Beckert wrote:
[…]
>> With that, we could add the prefix based site-functions directory,
>> but deprecate its use.
>
> Ack, that thought came to me also after having read your mail
> half-through. It though has the danger that some so far not active
> plugins will suddenly start to work. So we add least need to
> debian/zsh.bug-script.
>
> Currenty it only checks for packages that ship files in
> /usr/share/zsh/vendor-completions/ and
> /usr/share/zsh/vendor-functions/.

True. Although "normal" function don't get activated automatically. Only
files that match ‘_*’ in $fpath get activated automatically by compinit,
if the user calls that function in their configuration files.


>> That way, packages that disrespect the zsh package's policy still
>> work, while keeping the possibility of a clean system, in case all
>> package adhere to the policy. We could file a bunch of bugs for the
>> packages that are currently using /usr/share/zsh/site-functions
>> right now.
>
> Debian prefers lintian warnings over mass bug filing. Mass bug filing
> needs to be discussed on the debian-devel mailing list first.

That is fair.


> What I now still wonder to (hopefully) address Joey's issue:
>
> Is there a way to build the Debian zsh (respectively probably the
> zsh-dev) package in a way so that locally installed Zsh extensions get
> cleanly installed into /usr/local/ while Debian packages still install
> stuff to /usr/ (preferably these vendor-* directories)?

Well, I  am not sure what  "plugins" do in terms  of installation proce-
dures. The  only such package that  I have written¹ ships  a script that
asks you for a directory that it should use for deployment.

If I were to do some sort of automatic site-local installation, I'd pro-
bably install to this: zsh -c '${fpath[1]}'


> I wonder if something like a dh_zsh helper could help here (i.e. for
> the vendor-* directory part) as well.

I suppose we could make it do this:

Install files from the source  directory, that are not generally instal-
led by  the upstream installation  process. I  think that this  is still
more often than not the case:

  dh_zsh -c -s examples/_foobar contrib/_quux
  dh_zsh -f -s examples/some-function


Similarly, move functions from the in the packaging root directory, in
case things get installed by the upstream installation procedure:

  dh_zsh -c -p /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions/_foobar
  dh_zsh -f -p /usr/share/zsh/site-functions/some-function

The mnemonics here are:

  -c → Completion system function; put into vendor-completions
  -f → General, auto-loadable function file.
  -s → From Source directory
  -p → From package root directory.

I suppose we could also add a ‘-r’ option to make the process recursive.


In addition, we  could add an automatic mode for  stuff in the packaging
root directory, if called without  arguments, which should fix naïve in-
stallation procedures automatically, due to zsh's convention about names
for completion functions:

  - Scan these directories:
    - /usr/local/share/zsh/site-functions
    - /usr/share/zsh/site-functions
  - Move files matching ‘_*’ to vendor-completions
  - Move the other files to vendor-functions.
  - Remove those two directories (they should be empty now)


I think that should support most installation schemes.


WDYT?


Regards, Frank