Don't panic just yet, this is only a proposal and I've not yet decided whether this is going to happen; and if so, when it will happen. If you require this package, now is the time to speak up and let your voice be heard (on the mailing list is preferred). The proposal is simple; I am considering dropping support for the libtool1.4 and libtool1.4-doc packages and requesting their removal from the archive. I: Firstly, some facts about the current state of Libtool 1.4. 1) Libtool 1.4 is no longer maintained upstream. <http://mail.gnu.org/archive/html/libtool/2003-07/msg00127.html> 2) No other major distribution includes Libtool 1.4 in their current version: <ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/fedora.redhat.com/1/SRPMS/> <ftp://ftp.mirror.ac.uk/sites/ftp.suse.com/pub/suse/i386/current/suse/src/> 3) It is only required when used with Autoconf 2.13, which is also no longer maintained upstream. Or, to put it another way, I'm the only bugger currently maintaining it. II: And now some facts about its use in Debian: 1) No package Depends on it; only 11 packages Build-Depend on it: <http://people.debian.org/~keybuk/libtool1.4-rdepends.txt> 2) It has less than 0.01% of the user-base of the libtool 1.5 package, a single-figure user base, in fact: <http://people.debian.org/~apenwarr//popcon/results.devel.html> III: Finally, what's wrong with it? 1) It is unable to correctly link C++ shared libraries, the only possible patch to correct this is what breaks the Autoconf 2.13 compatilibity: <http://bugs.debian.org/216313> 2) It places non-PIC code into shared libraries when convenience libraries are used: <http://bugs.debian.org/157072> 3) As new architectures become available, libtool1.4 will drop further and further behind as the Autoconf and Automake support for these is only available in the maintained (2.5x and 1.8+ respectively) versions. 4) Having libtool1.4 installed whilst attempting to build modern (libtool 1.5 using) software can cause strange build failures if AM_MAINTAINER_MODE is not used. And the silly thing is, it's not actually that *hard* to update lagging software to use Autoconf 2.5x, the autoupdate tool that comes with it does a reasonable enough job to get you most of the way there. It would be far better, given I and III, for those few remaining pieces of software currently using Libtool 1.4 (and Autoconf 2.13) to update. Talk over, let the wars begin! Scott -- Have you ever, ever felt like this? Had strange things happen? Are you going round the twist?
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