[lldb-dev] Intended install location for python scripts

[Greg Clayton]

On Dec 3, 2013, at 9:46 AM, Todd Fiala <tfiala at google.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
> I started digging into the 'make install' python script installation issue listed on another thread.  Here's the ticket for it:
> 
> http://llvm.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=18124
> 
> I've added some comments to the bug.  My initial digging leads to a few questions:
> 
> 1. Where do we expect a configure/make/make install to place the python scripts?  I was under the impression the scripts should be installed in the same directory tree implied by the configure --prefix arg, which is also what a `lldb -P` reports.  However, what I'm finding is that the 'make install' step is trying to install the python scripts into the python interpreter's dist-packages location.  I'm getting these failures on install because I'm not doing a 'sudo' on my make install.
> 
>     llvm[4]: Installing Debug+Asserts LLDB python modules
>     mkdir: cannot create directory `/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/lldb': Permission denied
>     Error: Unable to find or create /usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/lldb
>     make[4]: Leaving directory `/usr/local/google/home/tfiala/llvm/work/build-debug/tools/lldb/source/Interpreter'
> 
> Do we want the python scripts installing into the python executable's dist-packages or the location reported by lldb -P?

Yes, this would allow multiple installs of LLDB to co-exist without stomping on the previous LLDB's python modules (which could be very different).

>  My first stab would be it should go in the installation prefix paths as I would not expect any code to be installed outside of the prefix and, possibly, require a sudo when I'm trying to do everything locally without elevated privileges.
> 
> 2. Should 'make install' fail if we fail to copy over python files? My first take is that a failure to install the scripts should qualify as an all-out failure and cause make to fail (i.e. fail early, fail loudly); otherwise, we can get quite a bit past the root cause of scripting-related failures without realizing what's broken.
> 
> Any opinions on this?  My straw-man answers are:
> 
> 1. Install into the tree implied by configure --prefix, not into the python dist-packages dir.  (A close second would be to specify a new configure path variable so the user can configure, possibly adjusting the output of lldb -P to match).

The --prefix path sounds right to be for coexistence.

> 
> 2. Change makefiles so that failure to copy scripts fails the install.

Agreed.

> 
> I'll fix up whatever we decide here if it requires a change.
> 
> Thanks!
> 
> Sincerely,
> Todd Fiala
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