Re: [RFC] Moving ltmain.sh and libtool.m4 into Automake

[Michael Haubenwallner]

On 10/17/2012 11:41 AM, Gary V. Vaughan wrote:
>   1. libltdl as a standalone runtime loader wrapper
>   2. libtool.m4/ltmain.sh to generate the libtool script

While I don't care about such a split in general, ...

> I think (2) belongs better into Automake alongside the other tool
> wrappers it already carries, where it can decide whether to run the
> libtool m4 macros and roll an appropriate compiler wrapper tailored for
> the project using it (no need for all the C++/Java/Fortran goo in a C-
> only project for example).
> 
> Another consideration is that rolling Libtool into Automake would make
> using Libtool as a standalone script rather more difficult.  Having
> said that, my impression is that Libtool is rarely used that way in
> any case, and further simplification may be possible by deliberately
> dropping explicit support for that use case.
> 
> If I make this split and contribute the macros and ltmain.sh to Automake,
> is this something anyone else would like?  If so, do you like it enough
> to wire it into Automake with an appropriate hunk of Perl?

... please do not consider moving libtool.m4/ltmain.sh into Automake!

There are build-tools around, often non-public, designed for either one
specific platform, and/or for static libs only, which does handle all
the build dependency hell (generators for domain specific languages for
example) of the specific projects they're used for.

Libtool does help a lot either to port these projects to other platforms,
and/or to introduce shared libraries, by simply using CC="libtool gcc"
(more or less), without the need to switch to Automake, which does do
its own dependency thing.

Thank you!
/haubi/