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Re: automake datadir files location and versioning
Am Die, 2002-01-22 um 09.43 schrieb Jens Petersen:
> Tom Tromey <tromey@redhat.com> writes:
>
> > >>>>> "juhp" == Jens Petersen <petersen@redhat.com> writes:
> >
> > juhp> While the recent versioning of automake is a good thing, I
> > juhp> guess it introduces some issues with backward compatibility.
> > juhp> For example quite a few packages/people assume that
> > juhp> config.{guess,sub} are located in /usr/share/automake (not
> > juhp> /usr/share/automake-<apiversion>). With the introduction of
> > juhp> versioning they will no longer be able to find those files.
> >
> > juhp> While I know that there is better and official way for
> > juhp> packages to get those files (automake -a), any thoughts on
> > juhp> this issue?
> >
> > My first inclination is to let them fend for themselves. This
> > directory has always been an implementation detail of automake. I
> > don't think we've ever documented or advertised its contents, and
> > we've always felt free to change it at will.
> >
> > Can you give an example of what programs rely on this?
> > I'm curious to know what we might be breaking.
>
> [The main problem seems to be projects that use symlinks for
> config.sub, install-sh, missing, mkinstalldirs, etc.
> Examples include sgml-common and docbook-utils (both in
> ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/docbook-tools/new-trials/SOURCES/),
> though I am sure there are lots of other examples. In fact
> I just realised that some of my own projects do this.]
>
> But actually it seems that automake is to blame here! Try:
A matter of perspective :)
> % mkdir test; cd test
> % touch configure.ac Makefile.am
> % automake -a
> % ls -l
> total 0
> -rw-r--r-- 1 petersen petersen 0 Jan 22 17:39 Makefile.am
> -rw-r--r-- 1 petersen petersen 0 Jan 22 17:39 configure.ac
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 petersen petersen 34 Jan 22 17:39 install-sh -> /usr/share/automake/install-sh
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 petersen petersen 31 Jan 22 17:39 missing -> /usr/share/automake/missing
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 petersen petersen 37 Jan 22 17:39 mkinstalldirs -> /usr/share/automake/mkinstalldirs
>
> Not sure what to do about this...
This issue is not new and has always happened if switching between
different versions of automake.
Eg. I am currently using ~4 different autotool-toolchains installed to
different prefixes. Unless taking special precautions _myself_ the same
issue will happen.
To fix the user-side of this either:
automake -a -f
[override the symlinks]
or
automake -a -f -c
[Don't use symlinks at all]
Ralf