Re: Core-utils 7.2; building only 'su'

[Alfred M. Szmidt]

   Hmmm.  Would it be worth changing autoconf to make './configure
   --help' state something like the following:

   | Some influential environment variables:
   |   ...
   |   DESTDIR    leave unset during configure; allows installation to
   |              specify a staging area different than the final prefix

   Perhaps even issue a warning if DESTDIR is set during configure
   time?  Or would this proposal just cause more problems?

I know that the wording is only a suggestion, but I see multiple
problems.

DESTDIR is not synonymous with prefix, it is prepended to each of the
variables (exec_prefix, prefix, bindir, libexecdir, ...)  when they
are used as a destination during `make install'.

I do not think that users are confused about passing DESTDIR during
configure time either.  DESTDIR is and has always been a automake
variable.  Alas, the only useful place to put this information is in
the output of --help.  Maybe something more like this would be a bit
more suitable (not to happy about the actual wording):

`To install FOO in a different directory for the purpose of making a
tarball, or similar pass DESTDIR to `make install''

Problem with the above, is that it only works when using make, but
maybe this is not a real problem?  If one uses AM_INIT in configure,
then the above could pop up...