why does autoconf check for all these extra compilers?

[Ed Hartnett]

Howdy all!

I use autoconf to build my library.

When attempting to do a mingw cross-compile, the configure script
checks for a whole bunch of extra compilers. What's up with that?

If I do this:

bash-3.1$ ./configure --host=i686-pc-mingw32 --build=i686-pc-cygwin
--disable-f90 CC="gcc -mno-cygwin"

I later see this:
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-xlf... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-fort... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-xlf95... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-ifort... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-ifc... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-efc... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-pgf77... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-lf95... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-gfortran... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-f77... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-frt... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-pgf95... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-f95... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-f90... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-fort77... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-fl32... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-af77... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-f90... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-xlf90... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-pgf90... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-epcf90... no
checking for i686-pc-mingw32-g77... no
checking for xlf... no
checking for fort... no
checking for xlf95... no
checking for ifort... no
checking for ifc... no
checking for efc... no
checking for pgf77... no
checking for lf95... no
checking for gfortran... no
checking for f77... f77
checking whether we are using the GNU Fortran 77 compiler... yes

What is with all the "i686-pc-mingw32-" stuff?

Any help appreciated. Thanks!

Ed


-- 
Ed Hartnett  -- address@hidden