From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Ralf Angeli Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: `make' written in elisp Date: Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:28:05 +0100 Message-ID: References: NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1104780554 1394 80.91.229.6 (3 Jan 2005 19:29:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2005 19:29:14 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Jan 03 20:28:56 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1ClXsu-0000eY-00 for ; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:28:56 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1ClY44-0008RU-5J for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:40:28 -0500 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1ClY3U-0008FN-PR for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:39:52 -0500 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.33) id 1ClY3S-0008EJ-TA for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:39:51 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.33) id 1ClY3S-0008E9-Nk for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:39:50 -0500 Original-Received: from [134.96.7.25] (helo=triton.rz.uni-saarland.de) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.34) id 1ClXsG-0005OX-DZ; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 14:28:16 -0500 Original-Received: from iwi-gate.iwi.uni-sb.de (iwi-gate.iwi.uni-sb.de [134.96.72.13]) by triton.rz.uni-saarland.de (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id j03JSEqI1103371; Mon, 3 Jan 2005 20:28:14 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from [134.96.72.190] (helo=neutrino.iwi.uni-sb.de) by iwi-gate.iwi.uni-sb.de with esmtp (Exim 4.33; FreeBSD) id 1ClXs5-0008UB-IE; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:28:05 +0100 Original-Received: from angeli by neutrino.iwi.uni-sb.de with local (Exim 4.43) id 1ClXs5-0002EF-UO; Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:28:05 +0100 Original-To: rms@gnu.org In-Reply-To: (Richard Stallman's message of "Mon, 03 Jan 2005 13:29:03 -0500") User-Agent: Gnus/5.110003 (No Gnus v0.3) Emacs/21.3.50 (gnu/linux) X-IWi-MailScanner-Information: Please contact the ISP for more information X-IWi-MailScanner: Found to be clean X-IWi-MailScanner-SpamCheck: not spam, SpamAssassin (score=0, required 5) X-MailScanner-From: angeli@iwi.uni-sb.de X-Greylist: Sender IP whitelisted, not delayed by milter-greylist-1.5.1 (triton.rz.uni-saarland.de [134.96.7.25]); Mon, 03 Jan 2005 20:28:14 +0100 (CET) X-AntiVirus: checked by AntiVir Milter 1.0.6; AVE 6.29.0.5; VDF 6.29.0.45 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:31759 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:31759 * Richard Stallman (2005-01-03) writes: > At least it should be able to call things like `configure' which is a > mandatory step in the build process of packages like AUCTeX and > preview-latex. During this step the values of some important > variables are determined and written to the package's site > configuration file. > > Why is it important for Emacs Lisp packages to do that sort of thing? Automatically determining variables specific to the site the package is being installed at configuration time is a means to cut down load times. There are things where it is not efficient or feasible to carry out the respective tests each time the package is loaded. As an example, in AUCTeX we are currently using `configure' to determine locations where TeX trees are located. The resulting value is used at runtime for speeding up file searches. Another example (which is not yet implemented) is the determination of programs for viewing DVI or PDF files on different platforms. `configure' can check which alternative is present on the system at hand and insert the choice into the site configuration file. This would allow us to get rid of the different platform-specific files we now have. Besides writing values to init files the configuration process is used to check if external tools required for building or running the package are present and provide necessary features. A special case might be preview-latex which has a TeX part besides the Elisp part. For the respective file the target directory for its installation is determined by `configure'. -- Ralf