Re: [Mingw-msys] CVS: msys/packages/rxvt/2.7.2

[Max T. W. <ma...@mt...>]

Earnie Boyd wrote:
> 
> On 7:19:16 pm 2005-07-06 "Max T. Woodbury" <ma...@mt...> wrote:
> 
> > Is it still an 'in-source-directory' build or is it now a full
> > 'external' build like it should be?
> 
> Yes.

Umm -- Yes it is still a 'in-source-direcotry' build or yes it is now a
full 'external' build?

> > > >  Which reminds me, a fairly large number (in 4-5 packages?) of the
> > > >  Makefile.am and configure.in files use obsolete auto{conf,make}
> > > >  macros or otherwise cause the auto[re]conf process to
> > > >  fail/complain and some only build properly in the source
> > > >  directory.  Is this something that should be fixed and if so,
> > > >  should we be doing it or should we throw it back over the wall
> > > >  to the people who did the packages originally?
> > >
> > >  No.  Part of the instructions should include a script to touch the
> > >  appropriate autotools generated files in the appropriate order.
> > >  The reason for storing the autotools generated files is so that
> > >  you don't need the now outdated versions of autotools to
> > >  regenerate the files.  Unfortunately the generated Makefile
> > >  contains targets for the generated files and that is the problem.
> > >  I'm of the opinion that it is wrong for the generated Makefile to
> > >  care about the autotools generated files.  This forces the user to
> > >  become a maintainer and that goes against the GNU Standard.
> >
> > So, I don't quite understand the flat 'No' above.
> 
> Because the control files to autotools and the stored generated files
> should never need to be changed.
> 
> > Do we put out a
> > build manager like the one I cobbled up, add a 'MSysBuild.sh' script
> > to each package that does the same thing but is specialized for that
> > particular package, or drop in a 'bootstrap.sh' or '.prebuild.sh'
> > script that does the preliminaries, or just drop it in a README.msys,
> > INSTALL.msys or BUILD.msys file with a bunch of instructions that
> > most people will ignore and half of those who do read it will fail to
> > understand?  (OK, a bit too cynical there, but I do have a few
> > reasons...)
> 
> I suggest a generalized script that can be executed prior to configure or
> perhaps rename the original configure, remove the configure.[ac|in] file
> from CVS to prevent creation of a new configure, create a configure script
> to do the touch and then execute the renamed configure script.
> 
> > Finally, what about those users who want to go the self-maintenance
> > route? If we fix the Makefile.am and configure.ac files, they will
> > have a better chance of succeeding, in addition to maybe making our
> > own job easier in the long run.
> 
> The point is there should be no need for _any_ user of the already
> distributed package to have to execute again the autotools to generate the
> configure and Makefile.in files.  I'm not looking to maintain a distributed
> forked package of each package that MSYS needs.

OK. That's clear enough.  Thanks.

Max