Is html_builder.move() Necessary

[ghost]

On line 418 of tasks.py html_builder.move() is called if the HTML build is successful. That command copies the documentation from the project's old_artifact_path to artifact_path. On line 661 the files are then copied by the selected Syncer from the artifact_path to their final destination.

Is it necessary to copy files from old_artifact_path to artifact_path? Could the documentation files not be directly copied from old_artifact_path to their final destination using the appropriate Syncer?

[ericholscher]

This is done so that the builder logic can contain what files are important, and not Read the Docs. The builders are self-contained, and if we moved the logic around what files they should copy into the webs, then that would break the abstraction.

[ghost]

@ericholscher thank you for the explanation. I think I understand the necessity for the abstraction. My hope is to avoid the extra file copy operation, and, at least in my use-case, the extra clean-up step required.

Would it be bad to get a handle to each builder in move_files, and ask the build where the documentation files are? Or maybe each builder should register the built documentation path with the project model, so that it can be fetched in move_files?

[agjohnson]

Closing this due to inactivity, seems there isn't much here to act on. Feel free to reopen if you'd like to document this or make any improvements.