Good compile: Solved: Meson config failure (sort of)

[Jack <ostroffjh users sourceforge net>]

On 2017.09.19 19:29, Jack wrote:
> On 2017.09.19 18:45, Jack wrote:
> > Hello Peter,
> >
> > Per you note about gnome config questions, I decided to try meson.   
> > My first attempt at config (just running "meson ../balsa-git" in the  
> > build directory) completed but pointed out I had to use either  
> > --without-gnome or --with-libsecret.  That is correct, as I'm on a  
> > mostly KDE system, with minimal gnome components.
> >
> > First note - unless I've missed something, the meson syntax is  
> > pretty restrictive, needing -Dwith-something=value.  You can't omit  
> > the value (mainly true or false).  Not an issue, but FYI.
> >
> > Second note - With the config line I gave it, it couldn't find any  
> > html converter (even though I have html2text installed, but I'll  
> > deal with that next) and then failed.  The output ends with:
> >
> > Message: You cannot properly quote html-only messags.
> > Meson encountered an error in file meson.build, line 277, column 14:
> >
> > Line 277 in meson.build is "if gpgmever.version_compare('< 1.8.0')"  
> > and "gpgme-config --version" returns "1.8.0".
> > Looking at the end of meson-logs/meson-log.txt, and it ends with
> >
> > Message: You cannot properly quote html-only messags.
> > Running command: /bin/true --version
> >
> > Meson encountered an error in file meson.build, line 277, column 14:
> > Uncomparable version string 'true (GNU coreutils) 8.25\nPackaged by  
> > Gentoo (8.25 (p1.1))\nCopyright (C) 2016 Free Software Foundation,  
> > Inc.\nLicense GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later  
> > <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.\nThis is free software: you are  
> > free to change and redistribute it.\nThere is NO WARRANTY, to the  
> > extent permitted by law.\n\nWritten by Jim Meyering.'.
> >
> > and that is indeed the output of  "/bin/true --version".  I suppose  
> > my qeustion is why meson is running /bin/true instead of  
> > gpgme-config at this point.  I have no idea if it is a side effect  
> > of not finding html2txt or if it is a real bug in meson.  It's is a  
> > separate issue whether /bin/true should be so verbose instead of  
> > just returning "8.25" but I'll leave that alone for now, since I  
> > don't think it's really important.
> >
> > Any suggestions?  (In the meantime, I'm going to see if I can  
> > correctly point it to html2text, or at least tell it not to need it.)
> >
> > Jack
>
> "meson --help src-dir" given generic meson info, but not the details  
> that "./configure --help" does.  For those, you have to do a  
> successful run of meson, and then do "meson builddir."
>
> My problem was not reading carefully.  Note two example lines from  
> "mesonconf builddir"
>
>    Option                 Current Value Possible  
> Values                    Description
>   ------                 -------------  
> ---------------                    -----------
>  with-gnome             false         [True,  
> False]                      Use GNOME libraries (default=true)
>   with-gpgme              
> yes                                              build with  
> gpgme/GnuPG support (yes|no|path to gpgme-config, default=no)
>
> wiht-gpgme does not list "Possible Values" but does give the options  
> under the Description.  I was using true or false, both of which  
> failed as above.  Using "yes" worked just find.
ninja build succeeded, and it runs.  I also noticed the copyright in  
the Balsa/About dialog is still 2016.  (There are lots of old copyright  
dates if you just do a "grep -ir copyright *" in the source directory.   
Maybe I'll put together a proposed patch to update them.)