[GRASS-dev] How to get "Last changed" string for a module's manual?

[Nikos Alexandris]

Nikos Alexandris wrote:

> > > > > Dear devs, how do we get a string like
> > > > > "Last changed: $Date: 2014-12-01 17:21:35 +0200 (Mon, 01 Dec 2014)
> > > > > for a module's manual? Is this dynamically created or is it hardcoded?

Markus Neteler:

> > > > Both :) You can copy it from another manual page. Then, to get it
> > > > updated by SVN, you need to define svn propset. this you can do with a
> > > > helper script:
> > > >
> > > > sh ~/software/grass-addons/tools/module_svn_propset.sh yourfile
> > > >
> > > > or
> > > >
> > > > cd yourdir/
> > > > sh ~/software/grass-addons/tools/module_svn_propset.sh *
> > > >
> > > > hope this helps,

Nikos:

> > > A lot, thanks.  How can I verify it actually updates the string?  I did
> > > as per the instruction above, then `svn up` (necessary?), then
> > > re-compiled. Don't see an updated string though.
> >
> > Oh man, maybe I meed to commit first... :-).  Will re-check.
 
Vaclav Petras:

> Yes, you need to commit first. FWIK, this feature (adding dates, versions,
> etc. to files) was very popular in the times of CVS and it have became
> quite controversial now, especially among those using Git.

Was/Is there a discussion about moving to git?

> It is advantageous for manual pages because it adds the recent change to
> the file which would be otherwise hard to do manually.

Not only hard. Easy to forget also.

> Doing this
> automatically on compile time wouldn’t be so straightforward because you
> can just compile from tar without svn (and thus having no idea about the
> versions, dates and authors).

Makes sense.

> The disadvantages include tracking last change in documentation rather than 
> algorithm and messy source code and diffs (especially unnecessary differences between branches).

!

Thanks, Nikos