build: action=clean doesn't delete anything, and still builds

[Kenneth G. Franqueiro]

I suppose this is actually kind of 2 bugs in 1 report...

Firstly, action=clean doesn't actually clean anything. If I'm looking in the right spot, util/build/discover.js:275 would lead me to believe that the code responsible for actually deleting is commented out. I'm not sure whether there's a legitimate reason for this (i.e. it's unfinished or untested).

Secondly, in 1.6 if I were to ./build.sh profile=something action=clean, it would simply clean out the release folder. In trunk, it still runs the build process (i.e. it behaves like I'd expect action=clean,release to behave).

[Rawld Gill]

action=clean will probably be removed in 1.7. Although the code exists, it is commented out. The idea of a compiler (which is basically what the build system is) deleting directory trees is extremely unusual and potentially dangerous. For example, if a user specified the input paths incorrectly, he could delete large portions of his disk unintentionally.

Looking into why action=clean does anything at all.

[bill]

Presumably it's there to be analogous to "make clean".

[Rawld Gill]

In [26634]:

added warning that clean action has been removed; fixed to not build if release action not given; fixes #13938; !strict

[Rawld Gill]

action clean has been removed because:

1. It's not normal for a compiler-like program to delete subtrees on a file system.
2. The builder is more like a compiler than a make system.
3. The builder is now capable of compiling many disjoint subtrees and placing those in disjoint locations. Mistakes + clean could result in unintentional erasing of large parts of a disk drive.

If action=clean is specified, a message is given saying it has been removed and to use rm or rmdir.