`cargo install hvm` considered harmful about hvm HOT 16 CLOSED

Well, this instruction is not only shown on Github, but also on crates.io and wherever else replicates the README.

how many people go to the repo and read the README without the intention of cloning it?

A lot, I guess. From my experience I would say most READMEs instruct to install from some package manager, the releases page, cargo install <name>, etc. (example 1, 2, 3). I have no idea where you got that from. :P

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I think it's just a culture shock kind of moment for @tommythorn, because GitHub over the years has now been increasingly used by non-developers to get the programs they want, especially via the "Releases" page. For this reason, it is now common to have usage and installation instructions for non-developers at the top of the readme, with a separate section titled "building" or "contributing" for developers.

So I believe cargo install x is the correct thing to say in the readme. Consider a dedicated "Building" section for developers/tinkerers with relevant instructions there.

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Arrgh. The problem is that the README says to use cargo install hvm which doesn't install the current version.

Why does it say that instead of cargo build --release?

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Wait, why it doesn't install the current version? I've published it. Can anyone with cargo experience let me know what is going on?

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By default, cargo install hvm downloads and compiles the latest version that is on crates.io. The published version has been last updated 3 days ago (version 0.1.7), so it doesn't include 61a331f. In case @VictorTaelin has tried to publish a more recent version, a possible explanation I see is that the version number has not been bumped and crates.io ignores the changes because of that.

You can run cargo install --path . in a local repo or cargo install --git https://github.com/Kindelia/HVM if you want to install with the latest commits. cargo build --release compiles the local version, so it's what you want to use for development. The Cargo Book should have a lot of extra documentation for cargo commands.

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I've uploaded 0.1.8 just in case, but I thought 0.1.7 was working fine as published. Can anyone test if cargo install hvm works fine now?

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I just now ran rustup update and cargo install --force hvm and still got v0.1.7. Reproduced the issue again:

$ hvm c bench/Fibonacci/main.hvm && gcc -Ofast bench/Fibonacci/main.c
Compiled to 'bench/Fibonacci/main.c'.
bench/Fibonacci/main.c:932:5: error: variably modified ‘normal_seen_data’ at file scope
  932 | u64 normal_seen_data[NORMAL_SEEN_MCAP];
      |     ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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I still don't see the logic of using cargo install from crates.io when you already have the sources. Maybe cargo install --path . as suggested above.

ADD: I just tried that and it worked.

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Note: 0.1.7 is indeed the latest published version https://crates.io/crates/hvm/versions

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Version 0.1.9 is now published could you test?

@tommythorn

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It's updated now, but I still find it this advice wrong - if you cloned the repo, you obviously expect to be working with the sources from the repo.

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You can run cargo install hvm without cloning the repo. It downloads the source automatically from crates.io to $HOME/.cargo/registry/cache/ and builds from there.

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Obviously, but how many people go to the repo and read the README without the intention of cloning it? I posit that this is an unusual and confusing suggestion.

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Fwiw, the Nix.md file file has instructions for building and installing using the Nix package manager which allows for reproducible builds, and exposes a development shell with dependencies included (such as clang) so you don't have to worry about installing and setting these up. It could be a more convenient alternative that's suitable for developers/tinkerers.

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Just published #79. What do you think?

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Thanks.

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