Re: Cross-Compiling fails due to man-page generation

[Assaf Gordon]

Hello,

Attached is my attempt at such patch, based on your suggestion.


On 07/19/2014 02:27 PM, Sami Kerola wrote:
> On 17 July 2014 06:58, Assaf Gordon <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Hello,
> >
> > I've encountered a problem where GNU Hello build fails with a cross
> > compiler, after the switch to non-recursive make
> > (of course there's no reason to need GNU hello cross-compiled, but my
> > project is based on GNU hello's build system).

<...>

> > I suspect this rule needs to be a bit more complicated, to accommodate few
> > possibilities:
> > 1. Native compiling from GIT repository, where "hello.1" doesn't exist (yet)
> > and "hello" can be executed - then "hello.1" can be generated.
>
> This seems right.
>
> > 2. Native compiling from tarball, where "hello.1" already exists (due to
> > 'make dist') and "hello" can be executed - then either re-generate "hello.1"
> > or not ?
>
> Output at this point the content of the manual is fixed, so I am voting
> for not re-generating.
>
> > 3. Cross-compiling from GIT repository, "hello.1" doesn't exist but "hello"
> > *can not* be executed - ignore and use empty "hello.1" ?
>
> Distributing empty manuals sounds wrong.  When cross-compiling from git
> the segment requiring manuals needs to be suppressed from Makefile.am.
>
> > 4. Cross-compiling from tarball, where "hello.1" exists but "hello" *can
> > not* be executed - use existing "hello.1" (despite it being older than
> > "hello", which might confuse the make target?) .
>
> This makes sense.

<...>

> The change looks good.  Only one AM_CONDITIONAL is needed to make 3.
> exclude the manuals when creating one is impossible or the least quite
> difficult.
>
> I haven't tested the following, but it might work.
<...>

Few differences from your suggestion:
1. If building from tarball (as opposed to from .git), I've changed the build to never 
generate, and never clean the "hello.1" manpage. The downside is that if a 
developer works from a tarball and changes the help screen, the manpage will be stale.
This is the "BUILD_FROM_GIT" in Makefile.am .
I think that's reasonable, but I could be wrong.

2. If building from GIT and cross-compiling, don't add a rule to the makefile to generate 
the man-page (this is the "!GIT_CROSS_COMPILING" in Makefile.am).

3. I've read somewhere (can't find the link now) that AM_CONDITIONAL should not be nested 
- so it is outside the "AS_IF".

4. To detect the ".git" directory, I've used "$srcdir/.git" (not just ".git") - 
as this could be problematic in out of tree builds?


I've tested it on several systems (including cross-compiling), but more testing 
is always good.

Comments are welcomed,
 -Assaf

hello_manpage_cross.patch
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