cabal sdist --project-file doesn't respect the option

[phadej]

cabal-install-3.4 is broken.

cabal-install-3.2 doesn't work either.

[philderbeast]

I'm finding this to be the case with cabal-install-3.8 too.

> cabal sdist --help
Generate a source distribution file (.tar.gz).

Usage: cabal sdist [FLAGS] [PACKAGES]

Generates tarballs of project packages suitable for upload to Hackage.

Flags for sdist:
 --project-file=FILE            Set the name of the cabal.project file to
                                search for in parent directories
 -z, --ignore-project           Ignore local project configuration

[gbaz]

I would have thought this would be resolved by #8109 ?

[philderbeast]

Still a problem with cabal I installed with ghcup.

cabal --version
cabal-install version 3.8.0.20220526
compiled using version 3.8.0.20220526 of the Cabal library

I'll install from source and try that too.

[Mikolaj]

This PR is 3.8.0.20220526, as see in release-notes/cabal-install-3.8.0.20220526.md, so I wouldn't count on master branch compiled from source doing any better. However, you could then run relevant tests and see if they behave any different than your use case and, e.g., add a new failing test to include in a new ticket [edit: or this ticket], with a better understanding what the failing scenario is.

[philderbeast]

Looking now, which of these branches should I try?

[Mikolaj]

We haven't broken master branch yet, I trust. But you can also use https://github.com/haskell/cabal/tree/cabal-install-v3.8.1.0-rc1 for extra safety.

[philderbeast]

I'm on branch cabal-install-v3.8.1.0-rc1. Before I attempt a reproduction I'd like to make sure I understand the help.

> cabal --version
cabal-install version 3.8.0.20220526
compiled using version 3.8.0.20220526 of the Cabal library

> cabal sdist --help
Generate a source distribution file (.tar.gz).

Usage: cabal sdist [FLAGS] [PACKAGES]

Generates tarballs of project packages suitable for upload to Hackage.

Flags for sdist:
 -h, --help                     Show this help text
 --project-file=FILE            Set the name of the cabal.project file to
                                search for in parent directories
 -z, --ignore-project           Ignore local project configuration
 -v, --verbose[=n]              Control verbosity (n is 0--3, default
                                verbosity level is 1)
 --builddir=DIR                 The directory where Cabal puts generated build
                                files (default dist)
 -l, --list-only                Just list the sources, do not make a tarball
 --null-sep                     Separate the source files with NUL bytes
                                rather than newlines.
 -o, --output-directory=PATH    Choose the output directory of this command.
                                '-' sends all output to stdout

--project-file=FILE
Set the name of the cabal.project file to search for in parent directories

Can I use this to refer to a project file in the current directory?

If I set --project-file=foo.project then is the default cabal.project now ignored?

What are the relative relationships allowed between *.project and *.cabal files? Does a *.project have to be a sibling or parent of all *.cabal files it includes?

If I set both --project-file=foo.project and --ignore-project then is foo.project ignored. What about cabal.project? If I have one of those too, is that ignored as well?

[philderbeast]

Can I use this to refer to a project file in the current directory?

I find the rendered command line cabal sdist --help unclear but the haddocks are better.

cabal/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/ProjectFlags.hs

Lines 19 to 27 in 42da820

	data ProjectFlags = ProjectFlags
	{ flagProjectFileName :: Flag FilePath
	-- ^ The cabal project file name; defaults to @cabal.project@.
	-- The name itself denotes the cabal project file name, but it also
	-- is the base of auxiliary project files, such as
	-- @cabal.project.local@ and @cabal.project.freeze@ which are also
	-- read and written out in some cases. If the path is not found
	-- in the current working directory, we will successively probe
	-- relative to parent directories until this name is found.

[philderbeast]

--ignore-project
Ignore local project configuration

This is very brief. It is explained more in source comments that don't get surfaced to cabal sdist --help or the haddocks.

cabal/cabal-install/src/Distribution/Client/ProjectFlags.hs

Lines 48 to 52 in 42da820

	, option ['z'] ["ignore-project"]
	"Ignore local project configuration"
	-- Flag True: --ignore-project is given and --project-file is not given
	-- Flag False: --ignore-project and --project-file is given
	-- NoFlag: neither --ignore-project or --project-file is given

[philderbeast]

Here's the latest from the user's guide.

.. option:: --ignore-project
    
    Ignores the local ``cabal.project`` file and uses the default
    configuration with the local ``foo.cabal`` file. Note that
    if this flag is set while the ``--project-file`` flag is also
    set then this flag will be ignored.

[philderbeast]

With #8226 I've added a minimal reproduction of the set up I had where I noticed this problem.

For the backstory, I squished a set of packages into one package (using public sub-libraries) and ended up with two projects, cabal.project for building the loose set of packages and cabal.sublib.project for building a single package with its *.cabal file in the root folder. All the loose package *.cabal files were in subdirectories.

I'm not sure how to wire the files I've added into a test suite. Any pointers about where to start?

[Mikolaj]

I would have thought this would be resolved by #8109 ?

I think it focused on --ignore-project and also testing --project-file was hard due to it being set by the testing harness IIUC, so only the standard project files name was tested IIRC.

[Mikolaj]

Can I use this to refer to a project file in the current directory?

yes

If I set --project-file=foo.project then is the default cabal.project now ignored?

yes

What are the relative relationships allowed between *.project and *.cabal files? Does a *.project have to be a sibling or parent of all *.cabal files it includes?

parent re directory structure

If I set both --project-file=foo.project and --ignore-project then is foo.project ignored. What about cabal.project? If I have one of those too, is that ignored as well?

I don't know. Probably both. #8109 is about that. Perhaps it's described there? It got reviewed, so the semantics assumed there may be fine.

[Mikolaj]

This is very brief. It is explained more in source comments that don't get surfaced to cabal sdist --help or the haddocks.

Right, this needs to be documented better.

Here's the latest from the user's guide.

Please kindly verify it agrees with #8109.

[gbaz]

I tested this on HEAD and it and --ignore-project appear to work. The patch didn't make it into 3.8.1.0 I guess?

I'll optimistically close on that basis.

[gbaz]

(note that one needs to run cabal clean between sdist calls to properly test the behavior with different project file flags, as there's some caching of the configuration -- that's probably a separate thing we want to fix)

[philderbeast]

I think it focused on --ignore-project and also testing --project-file was hard due to it being set by the testing harness IIUC, so only the standard project files name was tested IIRC.

@Mikolaj, I was able to use withProjectFile for this:

cabal/cabal-testsuite/src/Test/Cabal/Prelude.hs

Lines 344 to 346 in 7478066

	withProjectFile :: FilePath -> TestM a -> TestM a
	withProjectFile fp m =
	withReaderT (\env -> env { testCabalProjectFile = fp }) m

[Mikolaj]

In #8226? Good to know, thanks.

[philderbeast]

Yes, added today in #8226.