Re: Cygwin List O' Issues...[make install DESTDIR=]

[Charles Wilson]

Earnie Boyd wrote:

> > This part won't work.  It's possible we need a separate case for 
> > A:style paths.  Because the rest of the patch does:
> >
> > +           add_dir="-L$inst_prefix_dir$libdir $add_dir"
> >
> > E.g. prepend the inst_prefix.  But A:/inst_prefix/A:/usr/lib is NOT a 
> > valid path; for A:style paths you'd need to strip the drive specifier 
> > from $libdir before prepending $inst_prefix...
> >
> > Help solicited...
>
> IMO, it's not worth supporting.  A requirement of libtool and other 
> autotools is a POSIX shell, so ...


err, not that I'm complaining, but POSIX shell doesn't really mean that 
you have single-root filesystems and use '/' as a separator, does it?

I mean, MSYS and cygwin shells both obey that restriction, and I'd be 
perfectly happy to NOT have to worry about A:this and B:that.  But the 
POSIXness of the shell doesn't really address file system structure.

On balance, however, I agree that (a) given that all current 
windows-based used of the autotools is done from systems that provide 
some sort of emulated / root and use '/' as the dirseparator, (b) 
there's probably a LOT of places already in libtool where we implicitly 
assume both of those things, that

it is just too much trouble to worry about a:style paths in this 
location -- that sort of audit, if it is ever done, should be done as a 
separate patch and change LOTS of places in the libtool code.  Right now 
it's neither advantageous, necessary, or worth the effort.

--Chuck