Re: generated configure script doesn't work when "diff" isn't available

[Vincent Lefevre]

On 2008-03-19 23:31:18 +0100, Stepan Kasal wrote:
> One of the goals of Autoconf is to make the configure script portable
> to a wide variety of platforms.  To achieve that, Autoconf often has
> to work around a known bug of a system.  But that does not mean
> Autoconf should collect workarounds for every bug it encounters.

I can understand that. However, I thought that the fix could be simple
enough to be added to autoconf.

> If there is a bug on a system by a huge vendor, which is reluctant to
> fix it, or if users are not able to upgrade to a fixed version, for
> whatever reason, then it is crucial to work around that bug to enable
> autoconfiscated projects to be built on those systems.
> 
> If, on the other extreme, a student developing His Own Best
> GNU/Linux Distribution makes a mistake, then he should rather fix
> that mistake, and the consumers of His Own shall rather upgrade.

Well, concerning the missing diff, the OS doesn't come from a
student, but comes pre-installed from Sharp (for the Zaurus) and
Nokia (for the N810). For the Zaurus, I didn't see the problem
since I installed the diffutils, but other users might see it
and wonder what happens.

I've just reported the bug on maemo.org:

  https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3032

But concerning the Zaurus, the OS is no longer supported, AFAIK.

There would be another reason to use cmp instead of diff: it is
simpler and lighter. So, why not using cmp and let the cygwin(?)
developers fix their tools?

> In the case of missing diff, where s/diff /cmp / is a working fix, it
> would sufice to add an alias or link diff -> cmp.

This would be bad as this could make other tools that use diff
behave even more erratically.

> If I understand it correctly, then the busybox version of ls does not
> support the full set of options;

Well, in practice, the unsupported options are never used in scripts.
So, this isn't much a problem for scripts.

> BTW: does Maemo contain awk?

Yes, though I haven't tested it. But the Zaurus doesn't have it
(and there will be no upgrades).

> The upcoming release of Autoconf is going to use it for
> instantiation of files nd headers, so virtually every
> autoconf-2.62-generated configure is going to require awk for its
> operation.

What does the current autoconf do?

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <address@hidden> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.org/>
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Work: CR INRIA - computer arithmetic / Arenaire project (LIP, ENS-Lyon)