Subject: Re: autoconf on Win32, etc.? (was Re: minimizing forks ...)
From: Sam TH (sam@uchicago.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 05 2001 - 14:21:58 CST
On Mon, Feb 05, 2001 at 12:18:23PM -0800, Paul Rohr wrote:
> At 02:38 PM 2/5/01 -0500, Dom Lachowicz wrote:
> >> Were you building with the MSVC compiler or gcc?
> >
> >GCC though I have gotten it to work with MSVC too using CL, but I had to
> >export c:\progra~1\MSVSTUDIO\MSVC\Bin to Bash's PATH environment variable
> >and it involved a bit more hackery than I'm remembering at the moment...
>
> This is the most reassuring thing I've heard in a while. Most efforts to
> make autoconf a viable XP option for us have gotten stuck somewhere at or
> before the "a bit more hackery" phase.
>
> The vision of "./configure ; make" isn't just appealing to Unix folks and
> gcc users, but they're the only folks for whom it Just Works. Thus, the
> ongoing skepticism from the Rest of Us.
>
> Here's a modest proposal -- I'd love to see someone figure out all the
> necessary hackery required to get *native* compilers (ie, not gcc) to Just
> Work with an autoconf-based build environment. I presume that such a
> solution would require:
>
> 1. A specific list of additional tools to download on Win32, etc
> 2. A list of the needed environment settings,
> 3. Instructions on how to write makefile.in rules, and
> 4. Guidelines for XP discipline in writing configure.in files.
>
> For example, for Abi development, I'm used to using a VC-based toolchain
> which Just Works by opening up a Cygwin shell and typing the following:
>
> cd abi
> make
>
> It'd be cool if I could instead open up a Cygwin shell and type:
>
> cd abi
> ./configure
> make
> make install
>
> So long as that environment Just Works *with VC*, builds Win32 installers,
> and isn't significantly slower than the existing (poky) build system, I'd
> happily switch and not look back. In the mean time, though, I suspect that
> makefile.Abi and friends are still here to stay.
>
> Prove me wrong, Sam! ;-)
Well, I've never actually used a machine on which MSVC was installed.
But, I have use BeOS R4.5 on a PPC, courtesy of Sourcegear. (Sadly,
that machine currently refuses my attempts to talk to it). On that
machine, we had the MetroWorks CodeWarrior compiler. And with a
minimum of hackery (basically just the option I mentioned to Tom) I
compiled 150,000 lines of Autoconfiscated, libtoolized code.
So there. :-)
Really, it can be done. If I had a Win32 machine, it would be easier
to test. But I am positive that we can get this to work (I wouldn't
be rewriting the whole Makefile system to use the autotools as we
speak if I didn't think that.)
sam th
sam@uchicago.edu
http://www.abisource.com/~sam/
GnuPG Key:
http://www.abisource.com/~sam/key
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