Re: [RFA/make] Extend Framework support

[Nicola Pero]

> >>Hello everyone,
> >>
> >>unless someone objects, I'd like to check this in soon.
> >>
> >>It adds support to pass -F <standard GNUstep framework directories> on 
> >>platforms/compilers which support it (ie Apple).
> > 
> > Is there any advantage in doing so ?  The standard Apple framework
> > directories are scanned anyway without the need to pass -F.
> 
> Ah, but GNUstep isn't necessarily configured to install into the 
> standard Apple framework directories.  In fact by default I think it 
> also uses the /usr/GNUstep prefix.  (In my case it's even configured to 
> ~/GNUstep as this is not my machine I'm testing with. :-) )

Are you talking of gnu-gnu-gnu or apple-apple-apple ?

If you're using apple-apple-apple, you just want to use gnustep-make to
compile your stuff into Apple native frameworks/bundles/apps, then you
want to drop those into the Apple native framework/bundle/app directories,
like everything else.  At least, this is how I'd imagine it, then
everything works out of the box and you got stuff you can use and
distribute as native Apple stuff.

If you're using gnu-gnu-gnu on Apple, that's a different matter.  Is this
the reason why you want to use frameworks or not depending on the compiler
and not the FOUNDATION_LIB ?  Because you want to use gnu-gnu-gnu on Apple
and have your stuff compiled as a native framework and found using -F ?

I suspect gnu-gnu-gnu frameworks on Apple would be yet another different
case to build in yet a different way.  That looks like more work to do.  
Do we really need it ?  What's wrong with using the default gnu-gnu-gnu
framework support on Apple ?  If you're using gnu-gnu-gnu on Apple to test
that you can build cross-platform to Linux, you could as well build
frameworks in the Linux way, that helps testing the cross-platform aspect.  
:-)

As far as I'm concerned, I would stick with building "GNUstep frameworks"  
(our stuff with all the hacks to find lists of classes, locations,
symlinks) when gnustep-base is used, and "Apple frameworks" (which rely on
Apple's FoundationKit/compiler/linker own hacks to find lists of classes,
etc) when Apple FoundationKit is used.

If we change this, we need to investigate how we determine lists of
classes, etc when building a gnu-gnu-gnu native framework on Apple.

Btw, I suppose you also need to set some sort of library path for
frameworks, otherwise the frameworks might be found at link time if you
add the -F flags, but won't be found at runtime because the frameworks are
in some obscure gnustep directory.

Hmmm.