Not to get too political, but I did ask for help on this when I was first
working through it and got no response from anybody. I sent out several
e-mails about it and it seems you never get a response till somebody
thinks you screwed up. I will try and work on this, but I need some
pointers as to how people think this should work.
The problem with the java stuff is that there is never a consistent
directory of where java should be installed. That is why Pete wored on
trying to get java to tell him where it is installed. This worked in some
cases, but for any of the java 1.2 it did not, ie the directory structure
has completely changed. The other thing that came out of this was that
some people wanted to be able to use other compilers such as jikes or gcj
(which I have to use on AIX 4.1 as javac bombs with a thread error)
to compile the code. If this is the case, then the flags used on the
compiler (-verbose) to find the location of the jars is not valid and
breaks everything.
X is different than java. X has been around long enough to develop a sense
of where it should be installed; however java being a complete package in
its own is untarred in whatever directory the user deems necessary. Even
sun has not figured out a good way to automake stuff with jni (as I
researched it on their web pages.) Sun states that the user must
physically give the path to the include directories for the jni.
I have used many packages that request user input on configure. That is
where I both got the idea and borrowed the source code to develop what now
exists. I added the support to put the flags in to override the user input
so that the user can do unattended builds.
I can put Pete's code back in and rip my stuff back out and start a second
configure.in that I store somewhere else if that is what you wish. But
what I'd rather do is fix this so that it satisfies all that will be using
it.
Please respond with the following information: tell me if you just want it
back the way it was and I'll start a separate version of this elsewhere
for others to use, or what you dislike about it with suggestions of what
you think it should do. This will allow me to respond back with either
reasons why that can or cannot be done or illicit help on how to achieve
said goals.
David
On Tue, 7 Dec 1999 [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> This is directly analogous to the way AC_PATH_X works. X isn't installed
> in the same place on all systems; AC_PATH_X has a list of places to try.
> I'm sure that in its original incarnation, this list wasn't nearly as
> long... rather its been extended as new situations arise. One thing's for
> sure - it wasn't ripped out and replaced by a requirement that the user
> tell it where to look. Now I have no objection whatsoever to allowing the
> user to specify where the stuff is, I just object - strenuously - to
> requiring the user to do so. And its certainly not appropriate for you to
> take it on yourself to unilaterally "fix" Pete's approach.
>
> Greg
>
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David L. Thompson e-mail:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
University of Montana/CS Department
Missoula, MT 59812
Work Phone : (406)243-4793
