Re: GnuTLS 2.8.6

[Andreas Metzler]

On 2010-03-21 Simon Josefsson <address@hidden> wrote:
> Andreas Metzler <address@hidden> writes:
[...]
> > -  AC_LIB_HAVE_LINKFLAGS(gcrypt,, [#include <gcrypt.h>],
> > +  AC_LIB_HAVE_LINKFLAGS([gcrypt], [gpg-error], [#include <gcrypt.h>],
[...]
> > What problem is trying to solve?

> GnuTLS doesn't build on Solaris without that.

I am surprised. Afaiui AC_LIB_HAVE_LINKFLAGS parses the libtool la files
and adds any dependency_libs. Is it possible that this only happened
on incomplete installations (gcrypt la file not installed)? On Debian
we actively work around this "feature" by editing the gcrypt la file and
deleting the dependency_libs.

> > Gnutls does not uses gpg-error functions, but ends up being linked
> > against gpg-error even on architecures which do not require linkage
> > against indirect dependencies.

> Does that cause any problem?
[...]

Unnecessary linkage is a problem for distributors of binary packages
since it complicates package depencies. This makes the installation
program job a lot harder (and more expensive) than necessary. A second
negative implication is that transitions caused by soname changes are
harder since they involve more packages. (The second one shouldn't be
a issue here, since libgpg-error upstream has promised that there
won't be a soname bump, ever.)

cu andreas