How can I rebuild an edited Raku module that I've downloaded?

Question

I've installed Time::Duration and it failed most of its tests. I want to be able to rebuild the module - with my edits - from the locally stored module.

I edited the file that contains the module (that corresponds to Duration.pm6):

~/.perl6/sources/D00C101A0157E3EAC494310C9961F299240423E7

And then try building via it's json file:

zef --debug build ~/.perl6/dist/83839D8D315EEDEDFEAF211EE42E8D936ACE29CB

This returns:

===> # SKIP: No need to build Time::Duration:ver<2.00>
!!!> Build failure: ~/.perl6/dist/83839D8D315EEDEDFEAF211EE42E8D936ACE29CB at ~/.perl6/dist

I was hoping that this would rebuild the module with the change I made to the source.

Have I done this wrong, or am I going about this entirely wrong?

See also [How to edit the source code in module after installed it using zef?](https://stackoverflow.com/q/50264214/2173773) — Håkon Hægland, Jan 03 '19 at 17:27
Installed modules are assumed to be immutable for the given version/auth/api. — Brad Gilbert, Jan 04 '19 at 00:28

score 12 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 03 '19 at 19:09

12

As it has been noted already you should not modify installed files. However, the workflow for testing changes of some module is pretty straight forward.

First:

# Fetch and extract the distribution, then change into its directory.
# If the distribution is still in zef's local file cache then it will
# skip the fetch and extraction steps.

zef look Time::Duration

Then:

At this point you can edit any of the files you wish.

Finally:

# test your changes without reinstalling (assumes all dependencies are installed)
zef test .

# Reinstall the modified version of Time::Duration using one of the following:
zef install . --force-install
zef uninstall Time::Duration && zef install .

answered Jan 03 '19 at 19:09

ugexe

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Then submit a Pull Request with your changes to the main repo? ;) – Scimon Proctor Jan 03 '19 at 19:15
3

@Scimon that does not fit into this workflow because what is fetched is not necessarily a git repo. Additionally the extract phase for a git repository does a `git checkout` from a temp directory into the zef store cache, which does not setup the e.g. `.git/` directory (nor do we really want `.git/` folders in the zef store cache). `zef browse zef bugtracker` and `zef browse zef source` sort of help, but only if the target distribution has the appropriate meta fields filled out (`Time::Duration` does not). – ugexe Jan 03 '19 at 19:25
Please note that you don't need to do --force-install if you change the version in META6.json. – jjmerelo Jan 04 '19 at 09:08

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 03 '19 at 13:58

6

You should git clone the code or download the zip package, edit the code you want, then zef install . if the current directory have a META6.json file.

answered Jan 03 '19 at 13:58

chenyf

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Ok, and then use zef --force-install install . to update changes after you've done that once? – MorayJ Jan 03 '19 at 14:37
1

Yes. The files in the $*REPO are considered to be immutable, so any changes you make to the source will remain undetected. – Elizabeth Mattijsen Jan 03 '19 at 17:33

How can I rebuild an edited Raku module that I've downloaded?

2 Answers2

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