On Tue, Apr 15, 2008 at 09:32:26AM -0400, Glenn Fowler wrote: > shouldn't the test be that exec(2) recognizes shcomp binaries?
No! As James Carlson pointed out, doing tests against the build system is fundamentally wrong. You cannot assume that every (or even any) system on which the software will be installed looks like the build machine. Nor is it acceptable to generate materially different build products on multiple build systems meeting known requirements. Therefore "tests" during the build process are virtually always unnecessary and wrong. Why perform a complicated test on the contents of the proto area to ensure that a shcomp format binary will be executable on an installed system? Instead you should just develop, test, and integrate the two changes together and *know* that the installed system will work. ON is an integrated, self-consistent piece of software with specific and well-defined build system requirements. The ability to build and then run pieces of it on systems with arbitrary software installed is a non-requirement. Code added for this purpose is at best superfluous and likely harmful. No autotools-like behaviour in ON, please. Bad enough that SFW is allowed to get away with it. -- Keith M Wesolowski "Sir, we're surrounded!" Fishworks "Excellent; we can attack in any direction!"
