Re: libtool fails with uninstalled frameworks and the -F flag

[Gary V. Vaughan]

Hi Michael,

[moved to libtool-patches list]

On Jan 14, 2014, at 11:45 AM, Michael C. Grant <address@hidden> wrote:

> I'm trying to compile GNU Octave and its new Qt GUI on a Mac OSX with 
> Homebrew. Homebrew installs the Qt frameworks in 
> /usr/local/Cellar/qt/4.8.5/lib, so after some fiddling with the configure 
> script I get this:
> 
> QT_LDFLAGS=-F/usr/local/Cellar/qt/4.8.5/lib
> QT_LIBS=-framework QtCore -framework QtGui -framework QtNetwork
> 
> However, the libtool script does not handle the -F argument through properly, 
> so it is stripped out of the linking process.
> 
> I created the following patch for the generated libtool script, which causes 
> libtool to treat -F exactly like it treats -L. This seems to do the trick.
> 
> I did notice that scanning through past discussions that this has come up a 
> couple of times, but there is reluctance to provide full support for -F for 
> some reason. Perhaps the relative simplicity of this patch would convince you 
> to reconsider. I'm also discussing this with the Homebrew folks to see if 
> they would consider including in their formula, but they do prefer not to use 
> patches if they can help it.

Thanks for the patch.  Sorry I didn't reply to your earlier emails - I marked 
them for further attention, but didn't make the time to actually go back and 
respond.

My main worry is whether that changing libtool's treatment of -F is going to do 
something unexpected on another platform.  That said, apart from your 
conflating of -L and -F in the case branches with the patch you sent, I'm open 
to including it in the upcoming release if you don't mind reworking it a little?

Please keep the -L and -F branches separate, factoring the branch bodies into a 
shell function if necessary to prevent cut-n-pasting blocks of code between the 
two.  Bonus points if you could also make -F behave as before on all platforms 
but *-darwin*.

If you have github, I keep a mirror of libtool at 
http://github.com/gvvaughan/GNU-libtool, so that might be a more convenient way 
for you to submit a pull request than dropping patch attachments into the 
mailing list.

I have a couple of small fixes of my own that I need to polish and push, and 
then I'll do another round of platform testing to nail down what else is a 
show-stopper for a final pre-release.

Cheers,
-- 
Gary V. Vaughan (gary AT gnu DOT org)

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