distutils: clean does not use build_base option from build

[nicholasriley]

BPO	818201
Nosy	@tarekziade, @merwok, @zooba, @dstufft

^{Note: these values reflect the state of the issue at the time it was migrated and might not reflect the current state.}

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GitHub fields:

assignee = 'https://github.com/merwok'
closed_at = <Date 2021-02-03.18:28:59.568>
created_at = <Date 2003-10-05.17:37:44.000>
labels = ['type-bug', 'library']
title = 'distutils: clean does not use build_base option from build'
updated_at = <Date 2021-02-03.18:28:59.567>
user = 'https://bugs.python.org/nicholasriley'

bugs.python.org fields:

activity = <Date 2021-02-03.18:28:59.567>
actor = 'steve.dower'
assignee = 'eric.araujo'
closed = True
closed_date = <Date 2021-02-03.18:28:59.568>
closer = 'steve.dower'
components = ['Distutils']
creation = <Date 2003-10-05.17:37:44.000>
creator = 'nicholas.riley'
dependencies = []
files = []
hgrepos = []
issue_num = 818201
keywords = []
message_count = 7.0
messages = ['18567', '112430', '112829', '112830', '149632', '150514', '386398']
nosy_count = 6.0
nosy_names = ['nicholas.riley', 'tarek', 'eric.araujo', 'davidsj2', 'steve.dower', 'dstufft']
pr_nums = []
priority = 'normal'
resolution = 'out of date'
stage = 'resolved'
status = 'closed'
superseder = None
type = 'behavior'
url = 'https://bugs.python.org/issue818201'
versions = ['Python 2.7', 'Python 3.4', 'Python 3.5']

[nicholasriley]

I reported this on the distutils-sig list and didn't receive
any response. I'd be happy to provide a patch, but I'm not
sure which way to go.

<http://mail.python.org/pipermail/distutils-sig/2003-
September/003414.html>

Here's something that I think should work:

% python setup.py --help clean
[...]
Options for 'clean' command:
--build-base (-b) base build directory (default:
'build.build-base')
% python setup.py clean -b ../builds
running clean

Nothing happens. This works, however:

% python setup.py build -b ../builds clean
running build
running build_py
running build_ext
running config
gcc -E -I/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/
2.3/include/python2.3 -o_configtest.i _configtest.c
removing: _configtest.c _configtest.i
running clean
removing '../builds/temp.darwin-6.8-Power_Macintosh-2.3'
(and everything under it)

The logic to set build_temp from build_base (-b) is only
present in the build command, not in the clean command.
The code to set this option runs from
clean.set_undefined_options. But it's clean's build_base
option which is set at the time, not build's, so it
propagates an empty path.

The test command class I found posted to the distutils-sig
mailing list has a workaround for the above problem, which
looks like this:

    def finalize_options(self):
        build = self.distribution.get_command_obj('build')
        build_options = ('build_base', 'build_purelib', 
'build_platlib')
        for option in build_options:
            setattr(build, option, getattr(self, option))
        build.ensure_finalized()
        for option in build_options:
            setattr(self, option, getattr(build, option))

and doesn't call self.set_undefined_options at all, though
the last three lines could be replaced by it.

There are several solutions I can think of:

• set_undefined_options should be changed to propagate
  set options to
  the source command object before calling
  src_cmd_obj.ensure_finalized.

• another method should be added to the cmd class, which
  does the above
  propagation then calls set_undefined_options.

• a workaround such as the one above should be placed in
  the
  distutils.command.clean.clean class.

Does this make sense? Unless there's a huge compatibility
issue, I'd favor the first option, but my experience with
distutils is limited.

[merwok]

Sorry for the long delay without reply. Thank you for the report, I’ll look into it in the following weeks. In distutils2, I think clean could use the configure command (bpo-8254) or maybe it’ll be simpler to just set_undefined_options from build. I’ll ask Tarek whether we can backport this to distutils after it’s done.