[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] configure: add --build-date and --build-time options

[Hendrik Leppkes]

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 5:15 PM, Reimar Döffinger <Reimar.Doeffinger at gmx.de>
wrote:

> On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 03:49:09PM +0100, Andreas Cadhalpun wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > On 22.01.2015 15:31, wm4 wrote:
> > >If the build date is not correct, then what value does the build date
> > >have at all?
> >
> > How do you know it is 'correct' currently?
> > One can change the system clock (or use faketime).
>
> And someone could hand-edit the revision number...
> I think we have to assume non-maliciousness, otherwise it's all
> pointless.
>
> > What value has the 'correct' build date?
> > If you build an ffmpeg version from a year ago today it will contain the
> > current date. That's rather misleading.
>
> As it is the build date I see nothing misleading about that at all.
> I would buy the argument though that having the build date at all
> is useless and should be removed.
>
> > With the --build-{date,time} options one can specify meaningful values
> such
> > as the time of the last change to the source.
>
> Then it's not the build date.
> If we want a last-changed-date we should change it to
> that.
> But having a build date that in Debian actually is the
> last-source-change date, except when something goes
> wrong and it's something completely wrong seems to me
> to defeat the purpose (assuming there is one in the first place).
> I vote for just removing the build date.
> As an alternative I vote to change it to use the date of
> the last commit if the source tree is clean and has git info
> available, current date otherwise.
> What do others think?
>
>
Remove it for all I care, the important part is the revision info and the
compiler used.

- Hendrik