[tor-bugs] #17379 [Applications/Tor Browser]: Using the same build process in Tor Browser and Tor Messenger

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#17379: Using the same build process in Tor Browser and Tor Messenger
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 Reporter:  boklm                     |          Owner:  boklm
     Type:  task                      |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium                    |      Milestone:
Component:  Applications/Tor Browser  |        Version:
 Severity:  Normal                    |     Resolution:
 Keywords:  tbb-gitian                |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:                            |         Points:
 Reviewer:                            |        Sponsor:
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Comment (by boklm):

 Yes, I agree we should have two separate repositories, `tor-messenger-
 build` and `tor-browser-build`. What I was thinking was that maybe those
 two repositories could be two branches of the same things, containing all
 components for both projects, evolving in parallel but with a possibility
 to get them synchronized at some points.

 But if we don't want any tor-messenger component in the tor-browser
 repository, I think it is possible too, while still being able to easily
 share some components between the two. The tor-messenger repository could
 have a checkout of the tor-browser repository as a git submodule, to be
 able to use the tor-browser toolchain (and other shared components) in
 tor-messenger.

 So the two main possibilities I see are:

 a) The `tor-messenger-build` and `tor-browser-build` repositories both
 contain all components to build both projects. Which components are
 actually built depends on which Makefile command was used.

 b) The `tor-browser-build` repository contains only what is necessary for
 building Tor Browser and nothing else. The `tor-messenger-build`
 repository only contains the components that are specific to Tor
 Messenger, and has `tor-browser-build` as a git submodule, with a few
 symbolic links pointing to `tor-browser-build` sub-directories to pick the
 components from Tor Browser they want to use.

 I was initialy thinking about option 'a', but after thinking more about
 this, I think I like option 'b' more. The option 'a' would mean having
 many commits unrelated to the project in each projects repositories.
 Option 'b' avoids that while still allowing to easily share components
 between the two projects.

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/17379#comment:9>
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