Re: [Gnu-arch-users] Re: Build System links/ recommendations

[Andrew Suffield]

On Sat, Sep 04, 2004 at 11:09:26PM +0200, Jan Hudec wrote:
> On Sat, Sep 04, 2004 at 17:45:42 +0100, Andrew Suffield wrote:
> > On Fri, Sep 03, 2004 at 06:28:44PM -0400, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > > > The node in info for make is called "Prerequisite Types":
> > > > Top -> Rules -> Prerequisite Types
> > > 
> > > Hmm... I don't have it.
> > > I'm using GNU make 3.79, I'm guessing it's not the latest (came with
> > > redhat-9.3 I believe).
> > > 
> > > So your solution relies not just on GNU extensions, but on recent
> > > GNU extensions.  Hmmm....
> > 
> > If you consider 2002 to be "recent". Supporting development
> > workstations older than that is a waste of time, and build systems
> > don't need this at all.
> 
> So you suggest having two different build systems, one for development
> and one for instalation?

If you need to install on old or freaky systems, yes. It is virtually
impossible (and certainly impractical) to have a development-grade
build system for a complex project that also works on HP-UX 9, SunOS
2.6, or similar shit - not to mention a waste of time.

With a little ingenuity you can generally fold them together such that
you don't have to update two things in parallel all the time. autoconf
and automake do it reasonably well.

[I don't actually bother to construct such a thing unless there's a
demand for supporting freaky old systems, though]

-- 
  .''`.  ** Debian GNU/Linux ** | Andrew Suffield
 : :' :  http://www.debian.org/ |
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