Re: [Mingw-cross-env-list] Tutorial buglet?

[Tony Theodore]

On 08/08/2013, at 1:19 AM, Werner LEMBERG <address@hidden> wrote:

> 
>> It appears there are at least 20 more[1] - surely these must just be
>> legacy scripts
> 
> Mhmm, pkg-config is not always available;

Indeed, bash isn't always available[1] - but it's not an unreasonable 
requirement;)
 
> you delegate this management
> to an additional, external package.

MXE used to include a native version of pkg-config and I think we're going to 
have to start bundling more native tools[2]. Automake 1.14 already breaks some 
packages and it won't be long till people start noticing.

> An installed script, however,
> immediately works.
[…]
> I vote for yes, since it doesn't hurt, and it nicely completes
> whatever the packages' authors have intended.


Works doesn't mean correct:

$ i686-pc-mingw32-libpng-config --libs --static
-lpng16

$ i686-pc-mingw32-pkg-config libpng --libs-only-l
-lpng16 -lz

It's a selected example, there are sure to be others where the results are the 
same. With pkg-config, we also have a simple way to modify the behaviour for 
static/shared builds. I'd rather maintain just one, preferring pkg-config where 
possible and using foo-config otherwise (e.g. gdal as Martin mentioned).

Cheers,

Tony


[1] http://mxe.cc/#requirements-freebsd
[2] https://github.com/mxe/mxe/issues/145