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Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu
From: |
Nick Bowler |
Subject: |
Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability) |
Date: |
Tue, 22 Nov 2011 11:18:36 -0500 |
User-agent: |
Mutt/1.5.21 (2010-09-15) |
Hi Stefano,
On 2011-11-21 21:56 +0100, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> > > Notice that, despite of the (semi)-consensus reached there, I'm becoming
> > > more and more convinced that, in the long run, requiring GNU make to run
> > > the automake-generated Makefiles would be an acceptable move (for automake
> > > 2.0, that is). But only because GNU make is *so* much better than
> > > portable make (which is extremely limited), because GNU make is very
> > > portable and easy to build and install (and free from bootstrapping
> > > problems AFAIK), and because the incompatibilities between different
> > > make versions are so appalling.
I think this discussion is for the most part ignoring what is (IMO) the
most important issue: it must be easy for ordinary (non-developer) users
to build free software packages! This especially includes users who
have no idea that there's a difference between GNU make and the version
of "make" that is already on their system.
This is, I think, the single best way to encourage users to become more
involved in the free software community. If the user can't easily build
a package, they won't test new versions and they won't test patches.
(It's truly unfortunate that many popular GNU/Linux distros deliberately
make this more difficult than it needs to be, but I digress).
I have no doubt that using GNU make will make the the automake
maintainers' jobs easier. It might even make the jobs of individual
package maintainers easier.
But when a user building a free software package for the first time in
their life runs "./configure && make", and receives a spew of cryptic
messages about syntax errors or worse, I suspect that their first
reaction is not going to be "Whoops! I should have run gmake instead."
More likely it will involve much more colourful language, and they will
be left with a bitter impression.
Now, I'm not fundamentally opposed to the idea, but it has to be done
_right_.
Cheers,
--
Nick Bowler, Elliptic Technologies (http://www.elliptictech.com/)
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, (continued)
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Nick Bowler, 2011/11/23
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Dave Hart, 2011/11/22
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Stefano Lattarini, 2011/11/22
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Paolo Bonzini, 2011/11/22
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Stefano Lattarini, 2011/11/22
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Harlan Stenn, 2011/11/22
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Dave Hart, 2011/11/23
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Bob Friesenhahn, 2011/11/23
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Richard Stallman, 2011/11/24
- Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Paolo Bonzini, 2011/11/24
Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability),
Nick Bowler <=
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Stefano Lattarini, 2011/11/22
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Bob Friesenhahn, 2011/11/22
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Stefano Lattarini, 2011/11/22
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Bob Friesenhahn, 2011/11/22
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Reuben Thomas, 2011/11/22
- Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?, Ludovic Courtès, 2011/11/23
Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make? (was: Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] portability), Stefano Lattarini, 2011/11/22