Re: mkinstalldirs --version

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Alexandre,

Thanks for this patch.

> Actually, an easy way to prevent such conflicts about
> mkinstalldirs would be not to use it!  install-sh supports the
> -d option to create directories.  Bruno, do you think setting
>   mkinstalldirs = $(install_sh) -d
> would cause any issue?

The only immediate issue that I can see is that invoking $(mkinstalldirs)
would become slower: 1. sh has to parse 4 times more shell code, 2. it
doesn't have the "mkdir -p" optimization that mkinstalldirs has.

But there are other reasons to keep mkinstalldirs:
  - Small single-purpose programs are more maintainable than
    swiss army knife programs - the "Do One Thing but do it Right"
    philosophy.
  - mkinstalldirs is a replacement for the POSIX "mkdir -p".
    Whereas there is no POSIX "install" command.
  - install-sh carries this unfortunate copyright which requires
    mentioning the MIT in the documentation.

Bruno