New --check-config option to ./project to check software build status

Until now, it was necessry to run a long `while true' loop to see what is
currently being built at configure time. So with this commit, a new
`--checkconfig' option has been added to `./project' that can be called to
run that loop and make it easier to check.

2 files changed, 56 insertions, 31 deletions

diff --git a/README-hacking.md b/README-hacking.md
index 241f2dc..91846ea 100644
--- a/README-hacking.md
+++ b/README-hacking.md
@@ -556,20 +556,22 @@ First custom commit
 
  - **Prepare to build project**: The `./project configure` command of the
      next step will build the different software packages within the
-     "build" directory (that you will specify), nothing else on your system
-     will be touched. But since it takes long, it is useful to see what it
-     is building at every instant (its almost impossible to tell from the
-     torrent of commands that are produced!). So open another terminal on
-     your desktop and navigate to the same project directory that you
-     cloned (output of last command above). Then run the following
-     command. It will just print the date, once every second. But as soon
-     as the next step starts building software, you'll see the names of
-     software come while they are being built, and go once they are
-     installed in the project build directory (again: don't worry, nothing
-     will be installed outside the build directory).
+     "build" directory (that you will specify). Nothing else on your system
+     will be touched. However, since it takes long, it is useful to see
+     what it is being built at every instant (its almost impossible to tell
+     from the torrent of commands that are produced!). So open another
+     terminal on your desktop and navigate to the same project directory
+     that you cloned (output of last command above). Then run the following
+     command. Once every second, this command will just print the date
+     (possibly followed by a non-existant directory notice). But as soon as
+     the next step starts building software, you'll see the names of
+     software get printed as they are being built. Once any software is
+     installed in the project build directory it will be removed. Again,
+     don't worry, nothing will be installed outside the build directory.
 
      ```shell
-     $ while true; do echo; date; ls .build/software/build-tmp; sleep 1; done
+     # On another terminal (go to top project directory)
+     $ project --check-config
      ```
 
  - **Test the template**: Before making any changes, it is important to
@@ -1236,25 +1238,6 @@ for the benefit of others.
         $ git clone my-project-git.bundle
         ```
 
- - **Inspecting software building status**: When you run `./project
-     configure`, several programs and libraries start to get configured and
-     build (in many cases, simultaneously). To understand the building
-     process, or for debugging a strange situation, it is sometimes useful
-     to know which programs are being built at every moment. To do this,
-     you can look into the `.build/software/build-tmp` directory (from the
-     top project directory). This temporary directory is only present while
-     building the software. At every moment, it contains the unpacked
-     source tarball directories of the all the packages that are being
-     built. After a software is successfully installed in your project, it
-     is removed from this directory. To automatically get a listing of this
-     directory every second, you can run the command below (on another
-     terminal while the software are being built). Press `CTRL-C` to stop
-     it and return back to the command-line).
-
-     ```shell
-     $ while true; do echo; date; ls .build/software/build-tmp; sleep 1; done
-     ```
-
 
 
 
diff --git a/project b/project
index 51274eb..5d161be 100755
--- a/project
+++ b/project
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ host_cc=0
 operation=
 build_dir=
 input_dir=
+check_config=
 make_targets=
 software_dir=
 clean_texdir=0
@@ -97,6 +98,7 @@ Configure options:
   -i, --input-dir=STR      Directory containing input datasets (optional).
   -m, --minmapsize=INT     [Gnuastro] Minimum number of bytes to use RAM.
   -s, --software-dir=STR   Directory containing necessary software tarballs.
+      --check-config       During configuration, show what is being built.
       --clean-texdir       Remove possibly existing build-time subdirectories
                            under the project's 'tex/' directory (can happen
                            when source is from arXiv for example).
@@ -170,6 +172,8 @@ do
   -s|--software-dir)     software_dir="$2";                          check_v "$1" "$software_dir"; shift;shift;;
   -s=*|--software-dir=*) software_dir="${1#*=}";                     check_v "$1" "$software_dir"; shift;;
   -s*)                   software_dir=$(echo "$1" | sed -e's/-s//'); check_v "$1" "$software_dir"; shift;;
+  --check-config)        check_config=1;                                                           shift;;
+  --check-config=*)      on_off_option_error --check-config;;
   --clean-texdir)        clean_texdir=1;                                                           shift;;
   --clean-texdir=*)      on_off_option_error --clean-texdir;;
 
@@ -202,6 +206,44 @@ done
 
 
 
+# Check configuration status
+# --------------------------
+if ! [ x$check_config = x ]; then
+    # Find the color option to pass to `ls'. Note that `--color' (for GNU
+    # Coreutils `ls') should be checked first because it also has `-G', but
+    # for something else.
+    if   ls --color &> /dev/null; then coloropt="--color=auto"
+    elif ls -G      &> /dev/null; then coloropt="-G"
+    else                               coloropt=""
+    fi
+
+    # Print a notice to let the user know what is happening.
+    cat <<EOF
+
+This is an infinite loop that will print what software are being built at
+every moment. It is actually a listing ('ls' command) of the temporary
+directory where software source code are unpacked while they are being
+built. If the project isn't being configured, the output (every second)
+will either be empty (only a date) or a with an error about a non-existant
+directory. This feature is thus only useful when the project's software are
+being built.
+
+EOF
+
+    # Run the infinite loop.
+    while true; do
+        echo;
+        echo "$(date)    [[press CTRL-C to stop]]";
+        ls $coloropt .build/software/build-tmp || junk=1;
+        sleep 1;
+    done
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+
+
+
+
 # Basic group settings
 # --------------------
 if ! [ x$group = x ]; then