From: Jim Weirich <jim@...>
Date: 2004-06-21T23:24:38+09:00
Subject: Re: Rake desc bug


Jim Menard said:
> I think I've found a minor bug in Rake with the "desc" method and -T flag.
>
>     task :default => [:one]
>
>     task :one do
>         puts 'one'
>     end
>
>     desc "description of task one"
>     task :one => [:anything]
>
>     desc "description of task two"
>     task :two do
>         puts 'two'
>     end
>
> % rake -T
> (in c:/jmenard)
> rake two  # description of task two
>
> This only happens if "task :one" appears more than once and the
> description
> comes after the first "task :one". For example, reversing the tasks but
> keeping the desc after the second one does the same thing:
>
>     task :default => [:one]
>
>     task :one do
>         puts 'one'
>     end
>
>     desc "description of task one"
>     task :one => [:anything]
>
>     desc "description of task two"
>     task :two do
>         puts 'two'
>     end
>
> % rake -T
> (in c:/jmenard)
> rake two  # description of task two
>
> If I move the desc up before the first "task :one" then both descriptions
> get
> printed:
>
>     task :default => [:one]
>
>     desc "description of task one"
>     task :one => [:anything]
>
>     task :one do
>         puts 'one'
>     end
>
>     desc "description of task two"
>     task :two do
>         puts 'two'
>     end
>
> ~> rake -T
> (in c:/jmenard)
> rake one  # description of task one
> rake two  # description of task two
>
> Looking at rake.rb, I think the problem is that $last_comment is only used
> when a new task is created, not when an existing one is extended
> (re-opened?
> added to?). I don't know if using $last_comment inside Task.define_task
> instead of in the initialize method makes sense or if that would break
> something else.

Thanks for the report.  I think this is a case where it works as designed,
but perhaps it could have been designed better.

I think moving the check for $last_comment should be safe.  I'll look at
the code tonight when I get home.

With that in mind, what should rake -T display for the following?

  desc "First Comment"
  task :one

  desc "Second Comment"
  task :one

-- 
-- Jim Weirich     jim@weirichhouse.org    http://onestepback.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct,
not tried it." -- Donald Knuth (in a memo to Peter van Emde Boas)