Re: [Mingw-msys] Re: MinGW libtool DLL failure

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Tue, 15 Oct 2002, Max Bowsher wrote:
>
> >> The idea of supporting a --bindir option is tempting, but then
> >> 'libtool --mode=install' stops looking like a simple install program,
> >> and in fact, the --bindir option would need to be passed for several
> >> different phases of libtool operation since it would influence the
> >> content of the library.la file.  Since Windows may be the only OS
> >> benefiting from this, we could have a case of the tail wagging the
> >> dog.
>
> So we conditionalize all this so it only activates on Windows.

There is a fundamental flaw with this logic.  Sorry to dissapoint you,
but most open source software using libtool does not originate from
the Windows environment. :-)

If you rely on a feature which only takes effect under Windows, then
packages will neglect to enable or test that feature, resulting in
packages which do not build properly (or misbehave) under Windows.

You can make the assumption that all libtool users will use it from
packages using Autoconf and Automake so you can rely on a libtool
command line passed via those tools, but this is not necessarily the
case.  I am aware of a number of significant packages which use
libtool but don't use Automake at all.

If libtool was intended to be an extension of Autoconf/Automake, then
it should certainly have been absorbed into Automake, and not exist as
a stand-alone utility at all.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
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http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen