Re: default searchpaths on *BSD machines?

[Miles Bader]

Harlan Stenn <address@hidden> writes:
>> Hmm, OK, so in that case, does anybody know what typical practice
>> for FreeBSD users is (so I can be sure to cater to it)?  They must
>> encounter this issue all the time.
>> 
>> Do they usually just specify CFLAGS/CPPFLAGS/LDFLAGS on the
>> configure command line [maybe via a local config.site file as
>> mentioned]?
>
> It's never been an issue for me, and I've been using FreeBSD for a
> very long time.  I have /usr/local/bin and /usr/local/sbin in my
> PATH, and when I run "configure" my builds just work.

Can you give some details as to the mechanism by which this works in
most cases?  As far as I can tell, a configure script won't find any
includes or libraries in /usr/local by default -- at least _my_
configure script didn't, when I tested on a new install of FreeBSD.

To be more explicit, my configure script checks for libraries,
e.g. "libjpeg" using standard techniques:

   # Check for jpeg image library
   #
   have_libjpeg=no
   AC_CHECK_LIB([jpeg], [jpeg_start_compress], [have_libjpeg=yes])
   if test $have_libjpeg = yes; then
     AC_SUBST([libjpeg_LIBS], [-ljpeg])
     AC_DEFINE([HAVE_LIBJPEG], [1], [Define if libjpeg is installed])
   fi
   AM_CONDITIONAL([have_libjpeg], [test $have_libjpeg = yes])

I installed "libjpeg" using the FreeBSD ports infrastructure, but my
configure script still couldn't "see" it... once I explicitly added
"-I/usr/local/include" to CPPFLAGS, and "-L/usr/local/lib" to LDFLAGS,
then it did find it.

> Just like anything else, it's up to the installer to put things where
> they are supposed to go, and it's up to the local admins to tell folks
> what the default PATHs should be for things to work as expected.

Ok, but which "PATHs" are these?  The executable search path doesn't
cover include files or libraries...

Things I can think of:  CPPFLAGS (for includes), LDFLAGS (for
libraries), PKG_CONFIG_PATH (for stuff that uses pkg-config), etc...

Thanks,

-miles

-- 
"Nah, there's no bigger atheist than me.  Well, I take that back.
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from full-fledged Christian."  [Adam Carolla]