Autotools are by default in an user friendly mode (I don't know how to
name it better).
User friendly mode assumes that an user compiles and installs a software
just for himself.
As a rule of thumb, what's friendly to end users, is fatal to
maintainers. Or, better say, friendliness doesn't stack well. There
should be exactly one layer of friendliness: the topmost one.
Generally, I'd like build system and compiler to be as humble as
possible. Don't run tests on my platform, don't look for libraries and
headers in my /usr directory. If something is not specified by means of
command line or environment variables, it doesn't exist. The only
exception is libraries/headers provided by compiler (which is specified
on command line anyway). OS headers should be taken from SDKs and never
from my system.
It really annoys me that so many accidents can happen! CocoAspell
installs its library into /usr/local/lib, and my programs accidentally
are being linked against it! I want to be in "cross compile" mode even
if it's not the case. That would the best service for me, because my OS
can easily happen to be better than end user's one.
The problem is that ./configure scripts either measure my OS or guess
values (not always correct) or abort configuration. How can I control
this process? I'd like ./configure to retrieve values from a knowledge
base. In abscense of such kb, there should be an option to generate all
the measurement scripts so that I could send them to testers. Also,
there must be an option to populate KB out of measurement results.
Whether the feature is supported everywhere, nowhere or its support
varies. Is there autowiki?
Most of the tutorials spot the light on user friendly mode, which isn't
very helpful for me. Pieces of essential (for me) information are
scattered through the darkest corners of documentation, but I think
there should be lots of people like me demanding reliable maintainer
environment. Would you be so kind to point me on where to look for
information?
P. S. I normally read and post through GMANE. CCing me will trigger
challenge-responce on bluebottle. Don't CC me.
--
If you want to get to the top, you have to start at the bottom
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