Re: libtool patch -- was Re: easy way to tell if "in" package build ?

[othman@cs.wustl.edu]

Hi David,

On 19 Oct, David Benson wrote:
 > My feeling is strongly that tools shouldn't behave
 > differently just b/c you are making a package.  If you do
 > so you will ruin someone's day, b/c they won't be able to
 > figure out why the program behaves "funny" when built from
 > a src deb v. the src package.

I agree with you.  Initially, I didn't want to maintain a
Debian-specific libtool but an argument was presented that patching
libtool would save developers from having to patch libtool in each of
their packages that use libtool.

There are good arguments for both sides of the issue.  Personally, I
don't mind having to manually patch libtool since I prefer to use a
pristine libtool, myself.   In any case, I'll go with what the majority
of developers decide, assuming they make a good decision. :-)

 > This feature should be added as an option accepted by a
 > libtool-generated `configure', which should then be given
 > in the debian-build phase.  At least then affected packages
 > will be clearly indicated *in that package*.

I'm not sure you what you mean by "libtool-generated `configure'." 
Libtool doesn't generate `configure'.  Can you elaborate on this?

 > Probably a patch to do that would be welcomed by the
 > upstream maintainer.  Or maybe he has good, relevant
 > reasons which _we_ (er, Debian) should consider...
 > 
 > Finally, libtool is way too complex as it is.  Let's not add
 > anything Debian-specific please.

Fine with me. :-)

Can I please get some more feedback from other developers/users
regarding this issue?  Before I decide to remove the patch, I'd like to
know how other people feel.

Thanks for the discussion Dave!

-Ossama
-- 
Ossama Othman <othman@cs.wustl.edu>
Center for Distributed Object Computing, Washington University, St. Louis
58 60 1A E8 7A 66 F4 44  74 9F 3C D4 EF BF 35 88  1024/8A04D15D 1998/08/26