Re: Software/HD ecology

[David Masterson <dmaster@synopsys.com>]

>>>>> Luis Fernandes writes:
>>>>> "dmaster" == David Masterson <dmaster@synopsys.com> writes:
>>>>> Lee Sau Dan writes:
>>>>> "David" == David Masterson <dmaster@synopsys.com> writes:

David> GNU tools generally are not distributed with any package
David> manager in mind.  They have "make install" and some have
David> "make uninstall" as the replacement for a package manager.
David> MS-Windows actually has this issue well handled.

>>> Most GNU softwares nowadays have "./configure
>>> --prefix=/anywhere/you/like/foobar" so that the "make install"
>>> will only put files there.  Uninstalling is simply "rm -rf
>>> /anywhere/you/like/foobar".

dmaster> This does not work if "/anywhere/you/like/foobar" (for
dmaster> all "foobar") is "/usr/local" as is most often the case.

> Exactly! I NEVER use the default configure for Emacs because it puts
> things "all over the place".

I know that you can do this and that's where tools like Stow and
Pkglink come in.  However, most people find a simple "configure; make;
make install" is good enough for them *UNTIL* they get to the point of
wanting to uninstall (think ahead? who me?).  Having "make install"
install an "uninstaller" would take care of this and it's really not
that difficult to implement:

        install: $(TARGETS)
                for x in $(TARGETS); do \
                        echo $(RM) $(TARGET_DIR)/$$x > uninstaller; \
                        install $$x $(TARGET_DIR); \
                done
                install uninstaller $(TARGET_DIR)

Give "uninstaller" some sort of unique name to taste...

-- 
David Masterson                David DOT Masterson AT synopsys DOT com
Sr. R&D Engineer               Synopsys, Inc.
Software Engineering           Sunnyvale, CA