Re: using getconf in autoconf macro to find 64 bit compile options?

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Mon, 6 Sep 2004, Ed Hartnett wrote:
> I'm thinking perhaps I should have a option at configure enable-64bit
> which will turn on 64-bit pointers on whatever architectures I can
> figure out. So far I've got a good handle on solaris and AIX, but
> that's just the tip of the iceberg!

You are entering treacherous waters!  Icebergs are hiding in there! If 
you think that you have a good handle on solaris and AIX, then you 
probably don't.  Behavior is compiler, compiler version, and 
OS-version specific.  In addition to this, when the compiler is GCC, 
the user who built it may have configured it in in various ways. 
Maybe the compiler supports generating 64-bit code but some 64-bit 
libraries are missing.  Maybe the compiler is capable of building 
perfectly good 64-bit programs, but the currently booted kernel only 
runs 32-bit programs.  Maybe the user is cross-compiling.

If your autoconf macro is not really robust, then you may end up 
having many more questions/complaints from users than you already 
have.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden
http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen