Re: Why relink the library during make install?

[Miles Bader]

address@hidden (Ralph Corderoy) writes:
> GNU Stow, which is one symlink-creating post-processor, uses this
> technique to install under /usr/local/stow/package-ver.sion and then
> symlink the contents into /usr/local/{bin,lib,share,etc}.
> 
> After years of using this technique without a problem I did stumble
> across another package that didn't like it the other day, gphoto2 IIRC.

I think it's pretty clear that it's a bug not to support it
(`it' == correct treatment of a different install-time prefix), since it's
mandated by the GNU standards, and very widely used in practice.

On some silly systems (HPUX etc), it seems problematic to support, but as
far as I'm concerned, that really doesn't matter -- if a non-free OS is
broken, it's broken, and there's only so much we can do to support it.
People with those systems may have to use some horrible workaround, but
the fact that they use a broken system shouldn't affect people with
non-broken systems.

So the questions as far as I can see are:

  (1) Does gettext _really_ not support this properly on non-broken systems
      (most importantly, GNU & BSD)?

  (2) If so, why?  Automake, libtool, etc., should do the right thing.

[A side issue is that Bruno doesn't like this feature, preferring to
suggest that everyone use DESTDIR instead.]

-Miles
-- 
Run away!  Run away!