An RPM: what kind of absolute MADNESS is this ?
What kind of crazy idea is this? Install an IOCCC entry? I realise it seems odd (at best) so why did I make a rpm spec file and why did I hint at building RPMs for others? I can’t say precisely; certainly I’m under no impression that anyone else will want to use it but the entry was fun enough for me that I actually will (a number of my programs over the years are programs I actually install and I already have done so with this entry).
I already have my own RPM repository and initially after having won I set it up so that I could host the weasel rpm (binary and source) there. At the same time though I feel the entry belongs on the IOCCC website; that is to say the only place the raw files should be downloadable from is the IOCCC website itself. Simon Cooper (the judge who at the time dealt with setting up the entries on the IOCCC website) asked me if there is any real attachment in having the RPM built as part of the entry and the answer is ‘no’. He did suggest too that if I were to have the RPM hosted on the IOCCC website not only would it place a burden on me to keep it up to date (not that it ever needed to be updated) but it would place a burden on the judges. This is no longer true with GitHub but anyway since this was for personal reasons I decided that:
I would not host the actual source code or scripts on my website; they will remain on the IOCCC website. This will most likely never change; instead I would link to the entry directory so that they remain where they belong: the IOCCC website itself. I have set up an errata page however should there be anything requiring a fix.
I am keeping the weasel.spec file in the entry as it was part of my submission but I do not explain here how to set up the build environment or how to build a RPM: if you know how to use rpmbuild then you should be able to work it out. Again that’s a crazy idea but again it was there and it was part of the judges’ comments (which I liked a lot) which is yet another reason I kept it.
Because I strongly suspect (in other words since I know) I am the only one who has any desire for actually installing an IOCCC entry I did not do anything further. Nevertheless more information on my entry can be found at https://ioccc.xexyl.net/2018/weasel.
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