Re: c++ problems

[Alexander Hvostov <vulture@aoi.dyndns.org>]

On Mon, 14 May 2001 21:15:22 -0500
Gordon Sadler <gbsadler1@lcisp.com> wrote:

> On Tue, May 15, 2001 at 11:05:13AM +1000, Craig Sanders wrote:
> [snip]
> I'm a little confused at this point.
> ls -l /etc/alternatives/c++
> lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root           12 Apr 28 16:59
> /etc/alternatives/c++ -> /usr/bin/g++
> ls -l /usr/bin/g++
> lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            8 Apr 28 16:59 /usr/bin/g++ ->
> g++-2.95

On my system, `c++' and `g++' are two different binaries:

[bash/2.05.0] vulture@cornerstone:~ $ ls -l /usr/bin/c++ /usr/bin/g++
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        69456 Oct 25  1999 /usr/bin/c++
lrwxrwxrwx    1 root     root            8 Apr  4 17:46 /usr/bin/g++ -> g++-2.95
[bash/2.05.0] vulture@cornerstone:~ $ ls -l /usr/bin/g++-2.95
-rwxr-xr-x    1 root     root        71644 May  6 07:44 /usr/bin/g++-2.95

I have the same problem with regards to autoconf disliking `c++' and saying
it doesn't work. My workaround was to `ln -s /usr/bin/g++ /usr/local/bin/c++'.
That way, `/usr/local/bin/c++' is before `/usr/bin/c++' in $PATH, and `g++'
works perfectly, according to autoconf.

I think the problem is an old, stale binary from some ancient version of the
`g++' package:

[bash/2.05.0] vulture@cornerstone:~ $ dpkg -S /usr/bin/c++
dpkg: /usr/bin/c++ not found.

In my opinion, the g++ preinst needs to check for and remove this file if it
exists and isn't a symlink, like so:

cxxname=`dpkg-divert --truename /usr/bin/c++`;if test -f $cxxname; \
  then rm -f $cxxname; fi

If that's not the correct usage of `dpkg-divert --truename', then adjust
accordingly -- I don't use dpkg-divert as a maintainer (since I'm not a
maintainer anyway), so I wouldn't know.

Regards,

Alex.