configure tool

configure tool

[Ronny Chevalier]

Hi,

I'm curious about the reason behind choosing to do your own configure
tool instead of using tools like autotools or cmake?

Because for me it increases the chance to introduce bugs in the build
system since you are redeveloping tests to know whether a library is
present or not, the system to check if a flag is supported by the
compiler, to check if a function is present, to manage different
platforms,... All of these things are provided by tools like autotools
or cmake.

For example, I noticed that the part that check if the compiler
options are supported, is not working. Try adding a flag supported by
gcc but not by clang and use clang to compile or vice-versa.

Thanks

Re: configure tool

[David Bremner]

Ronny Chevalier <chevalier.ronny@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi,
>
> I'm curious about the reason behind choosing to do your own configure
> tool instead of using tools like autotools or cmake?

I guess the most relevant discussion is not that recent:

    http://mid.gmane.org/1258897630-22282-1-git-send-email-jeff@ocjtech.us

and to a lesser extent the discussion starting atL

    http://article.gmane.org/gmane.mail.notmuch.general/635

> For example, I noticed that the part that check if the compiler
> options are supported, is not working. Try adding a flag supported by
> gcc but not by clang and use clang to compile or vice-versa.

Sure, of course there can be bugs, just as in any configuration system.
Can you give a more specific recipe to reproduce it?

Thanks,

d

Re: configure tool

[Ronny Chevalier]

On Tue, May 19, 2015 at 9:01 PM, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:
> Ronny Chevalier <chevalier.ronny@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I'm curious about the reason behind choosing to do your own configure
>> tool instead of using tools like autotools or cmake?
>
> I guess the most relevant discussion is not that recent:
>
>     http://mid.gmane.org/1258897630-22282-1-git-send-email-jeff@ocjtech.us
>
> and to a lesser extent the discussion starting atL
>
>     http://article.gmane.org/gmane.mail.notmuch.general/635
>

Ok thanks I will look into it.

>> For example, I noticed that the part that check if the compiler
>> options are supported, is not working. Try adding a flag supported by
>> gcc but not by clang and use clang to compile or vice-versa.
>
> Sure, of course there can be bugs, just as in any configuration system.
> Can you give a more specific recipe to reproduce it?

Yeah I forgot to provide an example sorry.

-Wdouble-promotion for example is available on gcc but not clang and
it is still added to the command line when using clang. I think this
is because clang does not return an error code, but just prints a
warning.

>
> Thanks,
>
> d

[PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[David Bremner]

Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
understand ways, so we abort early.
---

This doesn't actually fix the problem Ronny points out, but a more
serious one where configure can actually fail when using gcc, if
e.g. nonsense is passed in CFLAGS.

 configure | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4af7ba9..cf618e8 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -269,6 +269,34 @@ dependencies are available:
 EOF
 
 errors=0
+printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
+
+printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
+if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "Ok.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
+if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "Ok.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
+    cat <<EOF
+*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
+running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
+report a bug.
+EOF
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     have_pkg_config=1
@@ -690,8 +718,6 @@ else
 fi
 rm -f compat/check_asctime
 
-printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
-
 printf "Checking for rpath support... "
 if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
 then
-- 
2.1.4

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[Tomi Ollila]

On Tue, May 19 2015, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:

> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
> understand ways, so we abort early.
> ---
>
> This doesn't actually fix the problem Ronny points out, but a more
> serious one where configure can actually fail when using gcc, if
> e.g. nonsense is passed in CFLAGS.
>
>  configure | 30 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 28 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index 4af7ba9..cf618e8 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -269,6 +269,34 @@ dependencies are available:
>  EOF
>  
>  errors=0
> +printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
> +if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1

Looks good, but there is 2 spcs  ^^ there (and same in CXX part)...

... also minimal.c is not removed if we exit early.


In the future we could think of writing all temp files to a subdirectory
which is cleared out using trap -- then we could drop all temp file
deletions... but now simple rm -f minimal minimal.c suffices

Tomi


> +then
> +    printf "Ok.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
> +if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
> +then
> +    printf "Ok.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
> +    cat <<EOF
> +*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
> +running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
> +report a bug.
> +EOF
> +    exit 1
> +fi
>  
>  if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
>      have_pkg_config=1
> @@ -690,8 +718,6 @@ else
>  fi
>  rm -f compat/check_asctime
>  
> -printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> -
>  printf "Checking for rpath support... "
>  if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
>  then
> -- 
> 2.1.4
>
> _______________________________________________
> notmuch mailing list
> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch

[PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[David Bremner]

Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
understand ways, so we abort early.
---

meh, the previous version was borken by lazy evaluation of CXXFLAGS
using make syntax. Better suggestions for how to do this?

 configure | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4af7ba9..650b976 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -269,6 +269,35 @@ dependencies are available:
 EOF
 
 errors=0
+printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
+
+printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
+if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "OK.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
+if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "OK.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
+    cat <<EOF
+*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
+running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
+report a bug.
+EOF
+    rm -f minimal minimal.c
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     have_pkg_config=1
@@ -690,8 +719,6 @@ else
 fi
 rm -f compat/check_asctime
 
-printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
-
 printf "Checking for rpath support... "
 if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
 then
-- 
2.1.4

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[Tomi Ollila]

On Wed, May 20 2015, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:

> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
> understand ways, so we abort early.
> ---
>
> meh, the previous version was borken by lazy evaluation of CXXFLAGS
> using make syntax. Better suggestions for how to do this?
>
>  configure | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index 4af7ba9..650b976 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -269,6 +269,35 @@ dependencies are available:
>  EOF
>  
>  errors=0
> +printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
> +if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1

still 2 spaces  ----------------^

> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
> +if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1

${CXXFLAGS:-$CFLAGS} ?

> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
> +    cat <<EOF
> +*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
> +running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
> +report a bug.
> +EOF
> +    rm -f minimal minimal.c
> +    exit 1
> +fi
>  
>  if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
>      have_pkg_config=1
> @@ -690,8 +719,6 @@ else
>  fi
>  rm -f compat/check_asctime
>  
> -printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> -
>  printf "Checking for rpath support... "
>  if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
>  then
> -- 
> 2.1.4
>
> _______________________________________________
> notmuch mailing list
> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[Tomi Ollila]

On Wed, May 20 2015, Tomi Ollila <tomi.ollila@iki.fi> wrote:

> On Wed, May 20 2015, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:
>
>> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
>> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
>> understand ways, so we abort early.
>> ---
>>
>> meh, the previous version was borken by lazy evaluation of CXXFLAGS
>> using make syntax. Better suggestions for how to do this?
>>
>>  configure | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>>  1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>>
>> diff --git a/configure b/configure
>> index 4af7ba9..650b976 100755
>> --- a/configure
>> +++ b/configure
>> @@ -269,6 +269,35 @@ dependencies are available:
>>  EOF
>>  
>>  errors=0
>> +printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
>> +
>> +printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
>> +if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
>
> still 2 spaces  ----------------^
>
>> +then
>> +    printf "OK.\n"
>> +else
>> +    printf "Fail.\n"
>> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
>> +fi
>> +
>> +printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
>> +if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
>
> ${CXXFLAGS:-$CFLAGS} ?

of course not... I did not find any definition for CXXFLAGS_for_sh....
... so

case $CXXFLAGS 
	in *'(CFLAGS)'*) CXXFLAGS_for_sh=$CFLAGS 
	;; *) CXXFLAGS_for_sh=CXXFLAGS
esac


>
>> +then
>> +    printf "OK.\n"
>> +else
>> +    printf "Fail.\n"
>> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
>> +fi
>> +
>> +if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
>> +    cat <<EOF
>> +*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
>> +running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
>> +report a bug.
>> +EOF
>> +    rm -f minimal minimal.c
>> +    exit 1
>> +fi
>>  
>>  if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
>>      have_pkg_config=1
>> @@ -690,8 +719,6 @@ else
>>  fi
>>  rm -f compat/check_asctime
>>  
>> -printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
>> -
>>  printf "Checking for rpath support... "
>>  if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
>>  then
>> -- 
>> 2.1.4
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> notmuch mailing list
>> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
>> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[Tomi Ollila]

On Wed, May 20 2015, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:

> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
> understand ways, so we abort early.
> ---
>
> meh, the previous version was borken by lazy evaluation of CXXFLAGS
> using make syntax. Better suggestions for how to do this?

Final try, I promise ;D

>
>  configure | 31 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 29 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index 4af7ba9..650b976 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -269,6 +269,35 @@ dependencies are available:
>  EOF
>  
>  errors=0
> +printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
> +if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1

if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1

> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi

if [ "$CXXFLAGS" = '$(CFLAGS)' ]
then
   CXXFLAGS_for_sh=$CFLAGS
else
   CXXFLAGS_for_sh=$CXXFLAGS
fi

the above is basically safe as if there are slight chages in string
'$(CFLAGS)' the CXXFLAGS_for_sh=$CXXFLAGS applies and if it is borken
then we notice it.

> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
> +if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi

unset CXXFLAGS_for_sh

> +
> +if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
> +    cat <<EOF
> +*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
> +running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
> +report a bug.
> +EOF
> +    rm -f minimal minimal.c
> +    exit 1
> +fi
>  
>  if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
>      have_pkg_config=1
> @@ -690,8 +719,6 @@ else
>  fi
>  rm -f compat/check_asctime
>  
> -printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> -
>  printf "Checking for rpath support... "
>  if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
>  then
> -- 
> 2.1.4
>
> _______________________________________________
> notmuch mailing list
> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch

[PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[David Bremner]

Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
understand ways, so we abort early.
---
Gah, I left out the one line I actually wanted feedback on.

 configure | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 4af7ba9..9b01025 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ CC=${CC:-cc}
 CXX=${CXX:-c++}
 CFLAGS=${CFLAGS:--g -O2}
 CPPFLAGS=${CPPFLAGS:-}
+CXXFLAGS_for_sh=${CXXFLAGS:-${CFLAGS}}
 CXXFLAGS=${CXXFLAGS:-\$(CFLAGS)}
 LDFLAGS=${LDFLAGS:-}
 XAPIAN_CONFIG=${XAPIAN_CONFIG:-xapian-config}
@@ -269,6 +270,35 @@ dependencies are available:
 EOF
 
 errors=0
+printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
+
+printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
+if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "OK.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
+if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
+then
+    printf "OK.\n"
+else
+    printf "Fail.\n"
+    errors=$((errors + 1))
+fi
+
+if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
+    cat <<EOF
+*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
+running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
+report a bug.
+EOF
+    rm -f minimal minimal.c
+    exit 1
+fi
 
 if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
     have_pkg_config=1
@@ -690,8 +720,6 @@ else
 fi
 rm -f compat/check_asctime
 
-printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
-
 printf "Checking for rpath support... "
 if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
 then
-- 
2.1.4

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[Tomi Ollila]

On Wed, May 20 2015, David Bremner <david@tethera.net> wrote:

> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
> understand ways, so we abort early.
> ---
> Gah, I left out the one line I actually wanted feedback on.

This version looks simplest and most readable to me (personally i don't
like the variable naming but that is just (*))

Just 's/${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c/${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c/

Tomi

(*) http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TwoHardThings.html


>
>  configure | 32 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++--
>  1 file changed, 30 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index 4af7ba9..9b01025 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -47,6 +47,7 @@ CC=${CC:-cc}
>  CXX=${CXX:-c++}
>  CFLAGS=${CFLAGS:--g -O2}
>  CPPFLAGS=${CPPFLAGS:-}
> +CXXFLAGS_for_sh=${CXXFLAGS:-${CFLAGS}}
>  CXXFLAGS=${CXXFLAGS:-\$(CFLAGS)}
>  LDFLAGS=${LDFLAGS:-}
>  XAPIAN_CONFIG=${XAPIAN_CONFIG:-xapian-config}
> @@ -269,6 +270,35 @@ dependencies are available:
>  EOF
>  
>  errors=0
> +printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C compilation environment... "
> +if ${CC} ${CFLAGS} ${CPPFLAGS}  minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +printf "Sanity checking C++ compilation environment... "
> +if ${CXX} ${CXXFLAGS_for_sh} ${CPPFLAGS} minimal.c ${LDFLAGS} -o minimal > /dev/null 2>&1
> +then
> +    printf "OK.\n"
> +else
> +    printf "Fail.\n"
> +    errors=$((errors + 1))
> +fi
> +
> +if [ $errors -gt 0 ]; then
> +    cat <<EOF
> +*** Error: Initial sanity checking of environment failed.  Please try
> +running configure in a clean environment, and if the problem persists,
> +report a bug.
> +EOF
> +    rm -f minimal minimal.c
> +    exit 1
> +fi
>  
>  if pkg-config --version > /dev/null 2>&1; then
>      have_pkg_config=1
> @@ -690,8 +720,6 @@ else
>  fi
>  rm -f compat/check_asctime
>  
> -printf "int main(void){return 0;}\n" > minimal.c
> -
>  printf "Checking for rpath support... "
>  if ${CC} -Wl,--enable-new-dtags -Wl,-rpath,/tmp/ -o minimal minimal.c >/dev/null 2>&1
>  then
> -- 
> 2.1.4
>
> _______________________________________________
> notmuch mailing list
> notmuch@notmuchmail.org
> http://notmuchmail.org/mailman/listinfo/notmuch

Re: [PATCH] configure: Add sanity checking for environment variables

[David Bremner]

David Bremner <david@tethera.net> writes:

> Passing in environment variables incompatible with the compiler may
> cause other parts of the configure script to fail in hard to
> understand ways, so we abort early.
> ---
> Gah, I left out the one line I actually wanted feedback on.

pushed to master, amended s/  minimal.c/ minimal.c/