In ikiwiki-2.60, external plug-ins are yet again installed using 'cp -a' instead of 'install -m 755'. This poses a problem on at least FreeBSD 6.x, since the cp(1) command doesn't support the '-a' flag.

The change in question (from 2.56 to 2.60) can be seen here:

    -       for file in `find plugins -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -wholename plugins/.\*`; do \
    -               install -m 755 $$file $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins; \
    -       done; \
    +       for file in `find plugins -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -wholename plugins/.\* | grep -v demo`; do \
    +               cp -a $$file $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins; \
    +       done \

Please restore the old behaviour of using 'install' :-)

  -- [[HenrikBrixAndersen]]

> I use cp -a because I don't want non-executable files to be installed
> executable. (Causes breakage with setup file creation code) I really
> wish *BSD could get out of the 70's in this area..
> --[[Joey]]

>> Well, really what's happening here is that *BSD (along with, for
>> example, Solaris) is adhering rather closely to the Single UNIX
>> Specification, whereas `-a` is a nonstandard option added to the
>> GNU variant of `cp` (a habit Richard Stallman never really got under
>> control). To install ikiwiki on Solaris I had to replace all uses not
>> only of `cp` but also of `install` and `xgettext` with the GNU
>> embrace-and-extend variants, and make sure I had those installed.
>> That really is a bit of a PITA.

>> I think there's an opportunity here for a really clean solution, though.

>> Why not do the installation in pure Perl?

>> The file manipulations being done by `cp` and `install` would be
>> straightforward to code in Perl, and there really isn't a complicated
>> build requiring the full functionality of `gmake`. `gxgettext` I'm
>> not so sure about, but even getting rid of _almost_ all the
>> nonstandard-utility dependencies would be a win.

>> The idea is that if you're distributing a Perl-based app, one thing
>> you'll always be absolutely certain of in the target environment is a
>> working Perl. The fact that the current build starts out in Perl, but
>> uses it to write a Makefile and then hand off to other utilities that
>> are less dependably compatible across platforms is a disadvantage.

>> A pure-Perl install can also query the very Perl it's running in to
>> determine the proper places to install files, and that will be less
>> error-prone that making a human edit the right paths into some files.
>> It would be quite useful here, actually, where we have several distinct
>> Perl builds installed at different paths, and ikiwiki could be correctly
>> installed for any one of them simply by using the chosen Perl to run the
>> install. That means this would also be a complete solution to
>> [[todo/assumes_system_perl|todo/assumes_system_perl]].
>> --ChapmanFlack

>>> Joey: How about the following patch, then? -- [[HenrikBrixAndersen]]

    --- Makefile.PL.orig	2008-08-16 14:57:00.000000000 +0200
    +++ Makefile.PL	2008-08-16 15:03:45.000000000 +0200
    @@ -67,9 +67,12 @@ extra_install:
     	done
     	
     	install -d $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins
    -	for file in `find plugins -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -wholename plugins/.\* | grep -v demo`; do \
    -		cp -a $$file $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins; \
    -	done \
    +	for file in `find plugins -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -wholename plugins/.\* ! -name \*demo\* -name \*.py`; do \
    +		install -m 644 $$file $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins; \
    +	done
    +	for file in `find plugins -maxdepth 1 -type f ! -wholename plugins/.\* ! -name \*demo\* ! -name \*.py`; do \
    +		install -m 755 $$file $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/lib/ikiwiki/plugins; \
    +	done
     
     	install -d $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/man/man1
     	install -m 644 ikiwiki.man $(DESTDIR)$(PREFIX)/share/man/man1/ikiwiki.1

[[!tag done]]