Re: AC_CHECK_TOOL changes, take 2

[Ralf Corsepius]

On Fri, 2004-03-19 at 00:12, Paul Eggert wrote:
> bonzini <address@hidden> writes:

> > 2) maybe time has come to remove the "--host sets --build"
> > (mis)feature of configure scripts?
Just to avoid miscommunications: Why are you calling it a misfeature?

>   And what about "./configure host"?

AFAICT, "configure host" has been deprecated since the earliest days of
autoconf-2.5x.

> Wow, ambition!  I like that.  :-)
> 
> What is the logical next step of a transition strategy here?  I don't
> want to have abrupt changes that break things, but issuing warnings
> should be OK.  For example, what happens now when people assume that
> --host sets --build?
Depends on what they are doing.

I see several aspects:
1. Detecting the fact of cross compilation ($host != $build).
2. Setting up a ($build-)tool-prefix.
3. Using $build in lookup tables for build-system characteristics.

1. seems troublesome to me. IMO, it also interferes with the still open
issues on handling {host|target|build}_alias in autoconf.

Packages using 2. or 3. will break, but ... packages applying 2. or 3.
probably have further problems.

>   (Sorry, I don't do cross-compiles much, so I'm a
> relative novice here.)

I am doing it almost every day ;)

>   If it doesn't generate a warning, perhaps we
> should just generate a warning for now.

Ralf