Re: System files and "make distcheck"

[Ralf Wildenhues]

* address@hidden wrote on Mon, Jun 27, 2011 at 01:08:29PM CEST:
> It looks as if the standard GNU installation method would require
> every user to run ./configure --sysconfdir=/etc, whereas most would
> just try the usual ./configure && make.  Given the choice between
> a convenient installation for the user, and a working distcheck, I
> think I'll have to take the convenient installation.

You can have both.  At the least, you shouldn't override explicit user
wishes.

configure defaults sysconfdir to '${prefix}/etc', so you could override
it to /etc if prefix is /usr and sysconfdir has not been overridden by
the user:

AC_INIT
if test "$prefix" = / && test "$sysconfdir" = '${prefix}/etc'; then
  sysconfdir=/etc
  AS_MSG_NOTICE([overriding sysconfdir to $sysconfdir])
fi

> The other approach would be to run the command grep xx || sed yyy || true,
> so that the installation never fails, but since the setup's a bit
> obscure if it failed that would cause even more problems for users.

Ewww.

Cheers,
Ralf