Doc #66369 [Asn->Csd]: INSTALL file (generated from Online Docs) fails to mention autoconf/buildconf

Edit report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=66369&edit=1 ID: 66369 Updated by: krakjoe@php.net Reported by: Rican7 at gmail dot com Summary: INSTALL file (generated from Online Docs) fails to mention autoconf/buildconf -Status: Assigned +Status: Closed Type: Documentation Problem Package: Documentation problem Operating System: *nix PHP Version: Irrelevant Assigned To: aharvey Block user comment: N Private report: N New Comment: The manual is intended to document released versions of PHP, as mentioned these do not require buildconf or knowledge of git or anything like that. The information required for developers is available in appropriate locations, as such closing bug. Previous Comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-12-31 06:42:50] bjori@php.net Idk.... https://edit.php.net/?project=PHP&perm=en/install.unix.php If you have concrete suggestions on fixing that. I personally don't consider this a bug though. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-12-31 06:41:02] Rican7 at gmail dot com Hmm, ok. Would you take a pull request for such a document? If so, should it be added to the recent master or merged up from 5.4? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-12-31 06:36:56] bjori@php.net INSTALL docs are for our users, not contributors. That is very normal. There should be no mention of "git" in the install guide, if it is - its a bug. That is not to say there should not be a different file for contributors, such as CONTRIBUTING.md maybe? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-12-31 06:06:46] Rican7 at gmail dot com ... That's strange that you say that bjori@php.net: 1. Compiling a code base (of any kind) from source has similar steps, but the PHP project uses a non-standard executable for running autoconf 2. "autoconf" itself isn't the most common tool and can deter new contributors 3. Other projects that have a process using "autoconf" usually remind devs to run it to create the initial configure script. For example, Ruby: http://new.tinygrab.com/3f00c7451001759c65b39d48b4ad387fed1670500e.png (https://github.com/ruby/ruby/blob/trunk/README) 4. The INSTALL script included in the PHP project's GIT repository has literal steps to install from the git source, as if NOT expecting you to just "know what you are doing", and a "./configure" step is listed multiple times (18 counted) without ever mentioning "autoconf" or "buildconf". If its documented, it should be correct/accurate. 5. The information is available in the php.net documentation, its just hard to find and away from the useful source/codebase... so its not like its unnecessary or out of scope information. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [2013-12-31 01:46:17] bjori@php.net When you compile PHP from git sources you are on your own and expected to know what you are doing. You do not need autoconf or friends when compiling from a snapshot or a release build. We only document release builds (and upcoming releases). This is done so people that are downloading the actual releases don't have to wade through weird developers-only sections. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The remainder of the comments for this report are too long. To view the rest of the comments, please view the bug report online at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=66369 -- Edit this bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=66369&edit=1