Inflation of explicit build requirements

[Leonard den Ottolander]

Hello Alexandre,

> >> automake* ? autoconf* ?
> 
> > Without the '*' I would agree.
> 
> >> + libtool of course!
> 
> > Maybe. (It requires libtool-libs and hence provides GNU ltdl.)
> 
> You're not supposed to require any of these at build time.  They're
> development-time programs.  IMHO, if you need to patch whatever
> upstream shipped, run the tools to update generated files, create a
> patch file, and arrange for that patch file to be applied just like
> any other patch file.  Then, if someone upgrades their autoconf*,
> automake* or libtool* packages, the package won't suddenly stop
> building.

The above is a very good argument not to make autoconf and automake part
of a standard build environment. However, I guess you are aware of the
fact that the real situation with respect to using auto tools is quite
different from the ideal situation you describe. From the over 100 RHEL
3 packages that I've been building in the last days probably about half
use autoconf or automake. Same is probably true for FC 1. Maybe practice
improves with the less basic packages, but to build the base of these
distros definitely requires you to use these tools.

Leonard.

-- 
mount -t life -o ro /dev/dna /genetic/research