Well, you would just change autoconf so that it fails fast when its configuration is not "well formed"... On Wed, Apr 15, 2009 at 7:54 PM, Bob Friesenhahn <bfriesen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Alfred M. Szmidt wrote: >> >> The problem is that DESTDIR is not a mandatory standard and >> packages may not adequately implement it even if Automake itself >> does the right thing. If INSTALL says that DESTDIR is supported >> and a package blindly includes the INSTALL file, then package users >> may end up with a very unpleasant surprise (e.g. damaged operating >> system) if the package misbehaves with DESTDIR. >> >> This is already the case for INSTALL. For example, `make uninstall' >> is often broken in many packages. Same for --program-prefix. >> >> The INSTALL file is probobly the best place to document this. > > In the autotools world, some packages are more equal than others. Some > packages are created via manual 'tar' of a source tree, others are created > by 'make dist', while others are created via 'make distcheck'. If the > package is created via 'make distcheck' then we have some confidence that > DESTDIR and uninstall should work. > > There are a lot of otherwise intelligent package developers who just can't > seem to figure out how to properly use autotools, or just do a crappy job. > As a result, many packages do not survive 'make distcheck', properly > support DESTDIR, or know how to uninstall themselves. > > If there was a way that a package could be "blessed" when it is created so > that the user knows that this package is endowed by its creator with correct > operation then end-users could know if DESTDIR is likely to work and that if > they use 'make DESTDIR=/foo install' as root that it is not going to > overwrite files outside of /foo. > > Perhaps someone here can figure out how to apply this blessing so that it is > possible for the end user to know if the package will follow the rules. > > Bob > -- > Bob Friesenhahn > bfriesen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/ > GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/ > -- Douglas Held doug@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx +447986527654 +1 (415) 830-6123 _______________________________________________ Autoconf mailing list Autoconf@xxxxxxx http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/autoconf
