Re: [Mingw-users] ld emulation issue

[Keith M. <kei...@us...>]

On Tuesday 06 January 2009 16:53:32 JonY wrote:
> If the "target" bit was not explicitly defined, configure assumes
> you are building and running binutils for your own machine.

Uhmm, that is not strictly true!  If `--target' is not specified, and 
it is relevant for the package being built[*], then configure should 
assume that it relates to the architecture of the `--host' machine.  
Of course, if `--host' itself is not specified, then that defaults to 
the local machine, resulting in the effect you describe.

> configure does the right thing most of the time, specifying your
> "build" and "host" machine is for safety.

Safety, in what respect?  If both relate to the local machine, then 
specifying them is redundant; it is perfectly safe to omit both.

Regards,
Keith.

[*] `--target' specs are relevant *only* for applications which 
themselves generate code, for deployment on a specific architecture.  
Packages which do not provide code generators should neither use, nor 
make *any* assumptions about `--target[**].

[**] Our own mingwrt and w32api are two packages for which `--target' 
should be completely irrelevant; both are library packages, and as 
such neither provides any form of code generator, yet both *misuse* 
the `--target' setting to control installation and packaging options.  
These are anomalies which are on my "round tuit" list for correction.