bug#45849: Autoconf options and dependencies

[Jim Meyering]

On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 8:36 AM Jim Meyering <jim@meyering.net> wrote:
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2021 at 6:29 AM Jeffrey Walton <noloader@gmail.com> wrote:
> > I noticed Grep offers these two autoconf options (and friends):
> >
> >     --with-libiconv-prefix
> >     --with-libintl-prefix
> >
> > Configure does not complain when they are used.
> >
> > However, when I check link dependencies with ldd:
> >
> >     $ ldd /usr/local/bin/grep
> >         linux-vdso.so.1
> >         libpcre.so.3 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpcre.so.3
> >         libpthread.so.0 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libpthread.so.0
> >         libc.so.6 => /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6
> >         /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2
> >
> > There seems to be no iConv dependencies, but there does seem to be
> > PCRE dependencies. (It may be time to bump to PCRE2 since PCRE is
> > end-of-life and the sources have some undefined behavior present).
> >
> > If I use --with-libpcre-prefix, then I get an autoconf warning:
> >
> >     WARNING: unrecognized options: --with-libpcre-prefix
> >
> > It looks like something is a bit sideways.
>
> Hi Jeffrey,
>
> Thanks for investigating. I haven't looked at the
> --with-libiconv-prefix or --with-libintl-prefix issues, but PCRE2
> (overdue, indeed) is on our radar. I expect that the switch to it will
> happen soon. That may serve as impetus for the next release.

Actually, PCRE2 is no longer an immediate priority.
The cost/value ratio seems too high for now, so unless someone else
does the work it's unlikely to change.