Gbuild feature: a methd to automatically generate binary package of external libraries and re-use these when-ever appropriate

[Stephan Bergmann]

On 07/08/2013 12:46 AM, Norbert Thiebaud wrote:
> Important: this feature rely on the postulate that anything that will
> modify the result of an external library build is 1/ the source
> tarball 2/ a variable in config_host.mk 3/ a file in core in the
> top-level directory for that library.

While I understand the desire to shrink gerrit buildbot build times, I 
wonder whether it is a good idea to do so by making those builds less 
deterministic and precise.  The building of external libraries is for 
example influenced by solenv/gbuild/.  Given that at least one use-case 
for gerrit buildbots is to let a developer verify the impact of his 
changes on platforms he does not have easy access to, it might be 
counter-productive if those builds silently do not build what the 
developer would expect them to do.

Stephan