Re: [TCLCORE] TEA architecture to move to autoconf 2.5x

[Jacob L. <jy...@mo...>]

Whats the motivation (other than "it's happening") for moving Tcl 8.5 to
autoconf 2.5x? What actual need (that cannot be met with autoconf 2.1x) is
being addressed here?

For the larger move away from autoconf altogether, you might want to
consult with authors of packages that are not pure extensions, e.g.
Metakit, which provide a Tcl "binding" to their core functionality. These
packages can not move away from using autoconf, and they cannot rely on
Tcl to be installed (or require it) for the replacement functionality. If
Tcl moves away from using autoconf, any solution that is dreamed up would
be much more useful and usable if it worked in the context of other
packages that continue to use autoconf. I think that means continuing to
support tclConfig.sh and tcl.m4 at the very least.

--JYL

> Following the move of the Tcl head (8.5) to require autoconf 2.5x, I
> think it is time to do the same for TEA (the sampleextension, and those
> extensions that are derived from it - which is most of what you see in
> ActiveTcl).
>
> This will only affect developers who have to modify tclconfig/tcl.m4 or
> their configure.in files, which should be few (I think I do most of
> those changes).
>
> In all these changes I have learned to hate autoconf in new ways, and I
> think it is high time that we extended TEA with the creation of a Tcl
> script that can build extensions (anything pure Tcl, and possibly
> simpler C-based ones) without any need for autoconf.  What will assist
> us in this is the new config info in Tcl 8.5, which means that this may
> be something to look forward to, but may not be usable with 8.4 or
> earlier.  I know that Donal has toyed with teapot.tcl, and this would be
>  something along those lines (an assumption that you have Tcl - and Tk
> for Tk-based extensions - installed when creating these).
>
> The advantage that TEA has is that you can build extensions with
> completely different compiler setups than the core used (this is
> something that the ActiveTcl build system actually has to take advantage
>  of on some more painful unix systems).  Without an immense amount of
> work this would be very hard to do at the Tcl script level.
>
> Comments?
>
> --
>      Jeff Hobbs                     The Tcl Guy
>      Senior Developer               http://www.ActiveState.com/
>          Tcl Support and Productivity Solutions
>
>
>
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