Re: What Problem does BuildStream Resolve ?

[Paul Sherwood <paul sherwood codethink co uk>]

Hi Tristan
thanks for the comprehensive answer. Just one comment to clarify 
below...

On 2018-02-01 15:00, Tristan Van Berkom wrote:
<snip>
>  o construction is deterministic
>    - for a given set of inputs, we always get the same output
>
>    This depends on reproducibility of source code as well, we
>    have recently run tests which show that gnome builds are mostly
>    reproducible, and are working on automating tests which buildstream
>    consumers can use to test the reproducibility of their sources
>    (similar to reprotest)
>
>    - all dependencies are known and controlled
>
>    Not sure the context of this, we have source aliasing and have
>    the framework in place to automate mirroring; mirroring of
>    sources to ensure you always have what you need is recommended,
>    but not in scope for automating as a part of buildstream.

We've seen many situations where build outputs are impacted by changes 
to dependency versions that aren't properly controlled. Simplest example 
would be where the project assumes it can get $dependency direct from 
the internet, then upstream moves or disappears entirely.

As I understand it buildstream does allow us to specify all dependencies 
and take them from controlled locations; but obviously if we **choose** 
to rely on an input which is outside our control, it's at our own risk.

br
Paul