On Wed, 3 Sep 2003, Hrvoje Niksic wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Georg Bauhaus) writes:
>
> > Hrvoje Niksic, Tue, 02 Sep 2003 15:58:02 +0200:
> >> Mauro Tortonesi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
> >>
> >> >> 2. Care to elaborate on why you introduced automake in wget?
> >> >
> >> > it makes the sources __MUCH__ easier to maintain, believe me.
> >>
> >> How so? It adds the complexity to the build process, and it makes a
> >> crucial build component (Makefiles) almost impossible to understand,
> >> debug, and modify.
> >
> > Very true, in particular if your OS has not been written with
> > configure in mind.
> [...]
> > What if there is no sufficient, working Unix environment available?
> > What if the system has a notion of processes that differs from the
> > Unix notion? Shells on which configure depends then just have
> > limitations, fork() vs spawn() hits you.
>
> Heh, note that I was talking about Automake in particular, not
> Autoconf in general.
>
> Yes, Autoconf is Unix-centric. It was designed to solve a specific
> set of problems encountered among the myriad of incompatible Unixes.
> In the center is the assumption that the systems are running in a
> similar, shell-based environment, and that each has a specific subset
> of features the program needs. Configure tests try to determine the
> exact subset at build time, so that the program can install its own
> substitutes for the missing features.
in the last 2-3 years we've seen many "heretic movements" that suggested
using python instead of shell scripts for autoconf. unfortunately AFAIK
no usable alternative to autoconf was born out of this consideration.
> Outside Unix this is needlessly complex and completely unnecessary,
> not to mention that it doesn't work outside a shell requirement.
> Wget tries to help by allowing you to completely avoid Autoconf and
> simply provide your own Makefile and config.h. This is how Windows
> Makefiles work.
sure. but don't forget that autoconf has been ported on many non-unix
platforms (cygwin, win32, etc...).
--
Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem...
Mauro Tortonesi [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Deep Space 6 - IPv6 with Linux http://www.deepspace6.net
Ferrara Linux User Group http://www.ferrara.linux.it
