Re: [Groff] [groff] 04/09: Fixes for `uninstall' target.

[Werner LEMBERG]

> 4) The user specifies DESTDIR, at "make install" time, e.g.
>
>    make install DESTDIR=staging/dir
>
> On MS-Windows hosts, this results in *unconditionally* malformed paths,
> in the form
>
>    staging/dirD:/installation/root/some/installation/path
>
> which is invalid; it can only ever be valid, if DESTDIR remains
> unspecified.

OK, thanks, good to know.

> In the days before the GNU Standards Committee were persuaded to
> adopt DESTDIR, the prescribed technique was to configure prefix,
> (and maybe also exec_prefix), to point to a testing sandbox:
>
>    ./configure --prefix=/path/to/sandbox ...
>
> or to override them at "make install" time:
>
>    make install prefix=/path/to/sandbox exec_prefix=/path/to/sandbox
>
> This technique remains as viable today, as it always was, and it
> does not require DESTDIR; it also has the advantage of working on
> MS-Windows hosts, where DESTDIR is guaranteed to fail.

Exactly.  BUT if DESTDIR gets used, I think it's nice that `uninstall'
works, too.

So there's no harm, which relieves me. :-)


    Werner