iputils (meson build system) has git version from buildroot instead of iputils

Hi all,

meson.build [1] uses git-version.h.meson [2] to produce BUILD_DIRECTORY/git-version.h.

Building from sources (not in Buildroot) it works:

$ head -1 builddir/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "20211215-15-g309f285"

But building in Buildroot it gets git version from Buildroot:

$ head -1 output/build/iputils-20211215/build/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "2022.02-876-g3ef096786a"

Is it a bug in iputils or in Buildroot meson?

Any idea how to fix it?

Kind regards,
Petr

[1] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/meson.build#L14
[2] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/git-version.h.meson

Hi Petr,

Quoted 9 lines · Petr Vorel

Hi all,

meson.build [1] uses git-version.h.meson [2] to produce BUILD_DIRECTORY/git-version.h.

Building from sources (not in Buildroot) it works:

$ head -1 builddir/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "20211215-15-g309f285"

Quoted 5 lines

But building in Buildroot it gets git version from Buildroot:

$ head -1 output/build/iputils-20211215/build/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "2022.02-876-g3ef096786a"

Is it a bug in iputils or in Buildroot meson?

This issue is raised because, in the context of buildroot, iputils is retrieved as a tarball, not a git clone.

So meson's vcs_tag will retrieve the git information from buildroot and will not use its fallback (i.e. meson.project_version()).

To fix it, there is three "simple" options:
- allow buildroot to configure the version (as already done in
open62541 package)
- don't use vcs_tag and always set package_version to
meson.project_version() outside of a "devel" mode as done for example in gnome console [1]
- override the default vcs command in vcs_tag call (e.g. command:
'git --git-dir=.git describe --dirty=+')

Another option would be to patch meson so vcs_tag is always run with "--git-dir=.git".
This is probably the more correct option as this issue is probably affecting other packages than iputils.
However, from my experience in meson, getting something merged upstream can take a very very long time (e.g. more than two years for a prefer_static option [2])
I don't know if this is completely related but this issue on vcs_tag is opened for more than one year [3] ...

Quoted 7 lines

Any idea how to fix it?

Kind regards,
Petr

[1] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/meson.build#L14
[2] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/git-version.h.meson

Best Regards,

Fabrice

[1] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/console/-/blob/main/meson.build#L35
[2] https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/pull/6629
[3] https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/8567

Quoted 6 lines

Quoted 5 lines

meson.build [1] uses git-version.h.meson [2] to produce BUILD_DIRECTORY/git-version.h.

Building from sources (not in Buildroot) it works:

$ head -1 builddir/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "20211215-15-g309f285"

Quoted 8 lines

Quoted 5 lines

But building in Buildroot it gets git version from Buildroot:

$ head -1 output/build/iputils-20211215/build/git-version.h
#define PACKAGE_VERSION "2022.02-876-g3ef096786a"

Is it a bug in iputils or in Buildroot meson?

This issue is raised because, in the context of buildroot, iputils is retrieved as a tarball, not a git clone.

This would be the case even if we take it from a it clone, because we first
archive the tree in a tarball and then extract the tarball in the build directory (i.e. without the .git directory).

Note also that this only happens if your output directory is below the
Buildroot tree. On the other hand, if you put your output directory, for example, under a BR2_EXTERNAL repository (which is what I usually do), then it will take the version from that repo.

Quoted 11 lines

So meson's vcs_tag will retrieve the git information from buildroot and will not use its fallback (i.e. meson.project_version()).

To fix it, there is three "simple" options:
- allow buildroot to configure the version (as already done in
open62541 package)
- don't use vcs_tag and always set package_version to
meson.project_version() outside of a "devel" mode as done for example in gnome console [1]
- override the default vcs command in vcs_tag call (e.g. command:
'git --git-dir=.git describe --dirty=+')

This is a problem for all packages, not just iputils.

I think a solution could be to

export GIT_CEILING_DIRECTORIES = $(OUTPUT_DIR)

That way, git won't travel up to the buildroot directory. Should be tested with putting the output directory in various places, and also with putting DL_DIR below OUTPUT_DIR or equal to OUTPUT_DIR and downloading git packages.

Regards,
Arnout

Quoted 25 lines

Another option would be to patch meson so vcs_tag is always run with "--git-dir=.git".
This is probably the more correct option as this issue is probably affecting other packages than iputils.
However, from my experience in meson, getting something merged upstream can take a very very long time (e.g. more than two years for a prefer_static option [2])
I don't know if this is completely related but this issue on vcs_tag is opened for more than one year [3] ...

Quoted 7 lines

Any idea how to fix it?

Kind regards,
Petr

[1] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/meson.build#L14
[2] https://github.com/iputils/iputils/blob/master/git-version.h.meson

Best Regards,

Fabrice

[1] https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/console/-/blob/main/meson.build#L35
[2] https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/pull/6629
[3] https://github.com/mesonbuild/meson/issues/8567