autoconfiscating getopt_long()...

[Matthew Whitworth]

The GNU coding standards document says "[u]se getopt_long to decode
arguments, unless the argument syntax makes this unreasonable."  Generally
I'm all for this and wish more programs did.  However, most UNIX-like
systems don't support getopt_long() out-of-the-box, which means one should
include an implementation of the function in their source tree.

I have examined several packages that use getopt_long(), including several
GNU packages, and none of them autoconfiscate this function the same way.  
Actually, few of them even autoconfiscate it at all -- most simply compile
and link it unconditionally (I find getopt.c, getopt1.c and getopt.h
thrown in with all the other source files).  I have also seen a lot of
code in which the authors call AC_CHECK_FUNCS(getopt) and then make no use
of the result in their source.  I have yet to see anyone explicitly check
for getopt_long().

I'm starting to think that I'm missing something....

Does anyone have a tried-and-true autoconf/getopt_long() technique?  I'm
currently playing around with AC_REPLACE_FUNCS(), but I don't seem to have
the source code just right yet.

Thanks!

Matthew

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
matthew whitworth
address@hidden

Between here and there is better than either here or there!