Re: Xconq 7.3 branch created!

[Steve Robbins <steve at nyongwa dot montreal dot qc dot ca>]

On Tue, 13 Jun 2000, Stan Shebs wrote:

> Stan Shebs wrote:
> > 
> > Roland Roberts wrote:
> > >
> > > Uhm, can't you fix the /var thing via --sharedstatedir or
> > > --localstatedir; I haven't used those, but I know there are variables
> > > by that name which should point to the /var hierarchy.
> > 
> > I was going to say "their default values are wrong", but I looked
> > more closely, and while their default values *are* wrong
> > (sharedstatedir is $prefix/com (?) for instance), it looks like
> > it's possible to override the value using configure.in and still
> > allow it to be set.

While you may consider the default values "wrong", they are at least
widely known.  So it is widely known how to override the defaults to suit
one's local conventions.

One of the strengths of autoconf'd packages --- from this installer's
point of view --- is that I can set standard things like --prefix, to
override all the install details. 

Moreover, I *know* how the settings interact.  For example, I know that
--sharedstatedir defaults to ${prefix}/com, so I know how this gets
affected when I set --prefix and I know how to set it independently of 
setting --prefix.

Mucking about in configure.in to change well-known defaults just raises
the burden of installing your package.  Far better, IMO, to leave the
defaults alone, and detail explicitly (e.g. INSTALL.xconq file) that the
score file goes into LOCALSTATEDIR.

> >  I'll give that a try, see if the necessary
> > cases work right.
> 
> The fatal flaw turns out to be that $sharedstatedir etc are
> defaulted and --sharedstatedir are set in a single chunk of code
> in the auto-generated part of configure, long before configure.in
> bits are pulled in.  The autoconf manual even describes this as a
> Good Thing...
> 
> Stan
>