[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #33018] ./configure considered broken

[Reginald Beardsley]

Follow-up Comment #25, bug #33018 (project octave):

"I keep saying this, but you don't seem to be getting it: "

I have told you what happened and what I did multiple times.  And you keep
complaining.

But once again:

changed /bin/sh to /bin/bash in the Makefile.in files to fix the parse error
in libtool.  I'm not about to take on regenerating things that come in the
tarball if I can avoid it.

changed INTRINSIC to EXTERNAL in seconds.f to keep the Sutdio compiler happy

Swapped the mktime.c from tar-1.25 for the one in Octave (only when using the
R libtool.  Not before)

Every time I build anything I keep a complete log of all the console output
for the entire process.  Bear in mind that I build from source because I'm
picky.  I want to be able to recompile w/ debugging on and fix a problem if I
encounter one. I also want to see how many compiler & linker warnings get
triggered as it's a useful barometer of whether a package will prove
worthwhile using.

I unpacked a fresh copy of Octave from the tarball for the trial of the R
libtool, so I knew I needed to fix the first two.  Because I'd just built Gnu
tar I knew to do the last when I saw it.

I've told you all this before.

When I started on this some 50+ hours ago, I thought I'd be able to give you a
detailed explanation of what was wrong and how to fix it,  I've been fixing
software written by other people for many years.  I'm also able to write
software that compiles w/o problems on anything around w/o the ministrations
of imake or autoconf & frenemies.  I don't have any problem w/ expecting the
person building the software to know how to do things on their own system.

Had I realized what I was getting into, I'd have just either used 2.1.73 on
Solaris or booted Linux and run a more recent binary distribution as most
people do.   However, I'm stubborn and rather unwilling to allow a computer to
beat me.  Unfortunately, I've concluded that the computed goto from hell has. 
I'm sick of trying to find where things get defined.  I would have compiled
Octave successfully in no more than a couple of hours but for the constant
massaging and mangling of the build instructions by an apparently denumerably
infinite number of programs.  Discoverability is an important attribute. 
Autoconf & company sadly have a very low score on that mark.

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