| Re: [buckminster-dev] Components that come into existence during a build |
So far, products from a build (or lets use 'action' since that is the bucky terminology) are artifacts. Artifacts can obviously be turned into components once they exist (and be put in a repository so other components can *then* reference them).
Umm, can't remember right now, but if an artifact can be typed, it can be typed as 'component'. That would mean that the resolvement might be able to intelligently deduce as it goes that either some 'real' component declares that it produces an artifact that is-a component, or that it can be found the traditional manner through the rmap. Either way, resolution can be made.
Materialization is also different - top of my head says that a artifact-being-a-component is never 'materialized' as such, it can only be built through actions when and if they're called, but that should be taken care of the right way through dependencies. In theory, yes, we could let materialization actually let it materialize by ensuring the necessary action is called, but if it's possible to be lazy about it is better...
True, this can also be complicated, but not on the declaration side so much as in the resolvement/materialization (and possibly action) engine. It also adds issues on what to do if the component sought after both appears as an artifact and a 'real' component in a repository. Etc.
I'm worried about introducing a 'subcomponent' construction as I think it muddies the water a lot, especially when we already have the artifact construction. Can a subcomponent have subcomponents? Thomas, you did once pursue the subcomponent idea but abandoned it - true, that was long ago and the rest substantially different from today, but still...
? ken1