gprolog install-links Makefile rule

[Keri Harris]

Hi

I ran into a couple of issues when installing gprolog-1.5.0:

1. the wildcard character ("*") is not expanded when linking binaries.

Links in $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin are created as:

    $(LN_S) $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/* .

make won't expand *. (See the pitfalls of using wildcards in make [1]). For example, installing gprolog on Gentoo Linux via a controlled sandbox:

   (cd /var/tmp/portage/dev-lang/gprolog-1.5.0/image//usr/bin ; ln -s -f /var/tmp/portage/dev-lang/gprolog-1.5.0/image//usr/lib64/gprolog-1.5.0/bin/* .);

   ...

   * QA Notice: Symbolic link /usr/bin/* points to /usr/lib64/gprolog-1.5.0/bin/* which does not exist

   >>> /usr/bin/* -> /usr/lib64/gprolog-1.5.0/bin/*

Instead the "wildcard" make function can be used for this purpose:

    $(LN_S) $(wildcard $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/*) .

Another alternative is to use:

    for i in $(BIN_FILES); do $(LN_S) $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/$$i .; done

2. the install-links rule may run too early

The rule refers to $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/*. During a parallel make install-links may run at the same time as install-system, leading to $(wildcard $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/*) being partially expanded or even expanded to nothing. For example:

    (cd /var/tmp/portage/dev-lang/gprolog-1.5.0/image//usr/bin ; ln -s -f  .);

    ...

    ln: ./.: cannot overwrite directory

    make: *** [Makefile:88: install-links] Error 1

I've attached the patch I'm using on Gentoo Linux.

Thanks

Keri

[1] https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Wildcard-Pitfall.html#Wildcard-Pitfall

gprolog-1.5.0-links.patch
Description: Text Data