Re: neon026 and .la files

[Joe Orton <joe@manyfish.co.uk>]

`neon-config --la-file` is part of the defined and documented neon 
interface: removing the .la file breaks that interface, and hence will 
break applications designed to build against neon.  It is desirable to 
reference .la files directly when implementing simple portable build 
systems around libtool.

The vendetta against .la files, however well-intentioned, is poorly 
conceived.  If you want to fix the problem of .la files unnecessarily 
propagating private shared library dependencies then expend the effort 
to fix it *in libtool*, just as it was fixed in pkg-config with the 
introduction of Libs.private.  This is not rocket science.

Attempting to deny the existence or the utility of .la files is naive, 
and unilaterally breaking interfaces in the packaging thereof is just 
dumb.

Regards,

joe