Re: INSTALL matters

[Neil Jerram <neil@ossau.uklinux.net>]

Bruno Haible <bruno@clisp.org> writes:

> In the weird cases that you are mentioning (like /dir1/lib/ and /dir2/lib/
> which each contain libA and libB, and the user asks to use /dir1/lib/libA.so
> and /dir2/lib/libB.so), yes, there are platforms where this will not work.
>
> But these are not the typical cases and not the common cases. In this case,
> where the emphasis is on making the user's life easier, it is acceptable to
> choose a solution that "works" only in 98% of the cases.

I agree; I just wanted to make sure that I fully understood.

>> OK, so you _do_ think that $prefix/lib should be added to LDFLAGS by
>> default, and $prefix/include to CPPFLAGS.
>
> Yes. This makes most sense for the installing user.

And I see now that havelib does this.

>> Is there an autoconf macro 
>> to do that?  If there is, does it support a ./configure option for
>> disabling it, for any cases where it isn't wanted?
>
> Good points :-) You are welcome to ask for this on the autoconf list; I
> support your idea.

OK, but I'll wait for a case (if any) where it's needed.

> The AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS_BODY is maintained for a couple of years already.
> Most problems must have been shaken out already:
>   http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=gnulib.git;a=history;f=m4/lib-link.m4;h=21442033c87bd65912d4337d2f3fe686da708e01;hb=68dfc9591e97db34b5ba693da028ff1f356a12b7
[...]
> The doc is also in gnulib, at
>   http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/Searching-for-Libraries.html
> (generated from gnulib/doc/havelib.texi). It's explained in some
> detail, but more from the perspective of the developer than from the
> view of the user.

Many thanks for all your input on this subject, Bruno.  I've applied
your suggestions to Guile's master branch (which will become the next
stable release series, 2.0.x):

http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git;a=commit;h=39b94fee4304d56babf5bd62e10c5786a79f4389
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=guile.git;a=commit;h=a89cafc0562942680db63fe8ddf89f466ba2f7af

If you have any further comments on this, I'd be happy to hear them.

Regards,
        Neil