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Re: Announce: guile-dblib-0.9 available (beta software)


Jim Blandy <jimb@red-bean.com> writes:

> > I've added support for two to non-inuitive configure features.  The
> > first of these is called 'dblib', and you can use it to specify where
> > your dblib installation is at.  The second of these is called simply
> > 'guile', and it is used similarly, to specify where you have guile
> > installed.  If you've got guile installed in /usr/local, and
> > /usr/local is in your path, then you shouldn't need this to build.
> > 
> > To build in my installation, I configured like this:
> > 
> > ./configure --enable-guile=/opt/guile --enable-dblib=/opt/sybase
> 
> Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but:

No, you're not.  I'm probably trying to solve a non-problem.

> When I run dblib's configure script, does --enable-dblib=PATH tell
> dblib where to install itself?  If so, why don't you use --prefix=PATH
> instead?

I was trying to give the user an easy way to tell the configure script
where to find the sybase headers and libraries.  I guess the normal
way is to do stuff like this, which I found somewhat tedious and
distasteful:

   export CPPFLAGS="/opt/sybase/include:${CPPFLAGS}"
   export LDFLAGS="/opt/sybase/lib:${LDFLAGS}"
   ./configure

You see, everthing inside Goldman has got it's own /opt directory, so
it's impractical to have LDFLAGS and CPPFLAGS constantly set to the
union of every software package you ever might want to use.

So I was trying to give the user a way to do this without having to do
the environment variable stuff.  Maybe this is silly, or maybe there
is an easy way to do this, and I don't understand autoconf.  (I'm not
ashamed to say that I don't understand the whole automake / autoconf /
libtool suite.  My head nearly exploded the other night when I tried
to learn them, and I still haven't tried to integrate automake).

> I think you don't need --enable-guile=PATH either.  The configure.in
> file should use the GUILE_FLAGS macro, in guile-core/guile.m4; that
> is meant give you the CFLAGS and LDFLAGS you need to link against
> Guile.  It works by running the guile-config program, which must be
> in your path.

Thanks.  This I eventually found in the guile NEWS file, but after I
posted.  I'm planning to switch over to GUILE_CFLAGS etc.  One
question: a lot of times I've got guile-1.3 installed in /opt/guile,
and I've got some snapshot installed in /home/mcmanr/local.  How does
one specify that configure should use the guile in /home/mcmanr/local?
I guess I should just read guile.m4 and answer my own question.

> The thing is, your package is not unusual; if you need weird,
> nonintuitive configure options, everyone else writing a Guile
> package will too.  So this is very much something for us to work on
> until it goes smoothly.  I'm interested in changing Guile as
> necessary to make this possible.

I hope I was clear about what I was trying to achieve.  Suggestions
welcome.

-russ


--
"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over 
if you just sit there."  
             --Will Rogers (1879-1935)