Re: MSW DLLs support in libtool

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Fri, 12 Feb 2016, Evgeny Grin wrote:

> option is NOP for anything except W32 and AIX.
> Moreover, if it does matter only for W32 and AIX, let's rename it to
> "-w32-aix-shared-compatible". And add more flags, like
> "-linux-compatible", "-open-bsd-compatible". This will signal libtool
> that developed checked compatibility of build system with specific OS.

We don't do this sort of thing since we have no control over the 
future and don't know what the future will bring.  So we use generic 
options.  If we try to guess what the future may bring then we may 
guess wrong and someone will take us to task about our bad decisions.

For AIX, there is a build mode where shared libraries are more like 
GNU Linux and not like DLLs.

> Anyway, what's drawback of assuming "-no-undefined" on W32 and AIX (or
> on all platforms)?

As previously explained, it is more likely to lead to compilation 
success for packages which have not been crafted/tuned to succeed on 
targets where -no-undefined makes a difference.

A core Autotools principle is that the person compiling the software 
should be in control as much as possible.  This includes people who 
just received a tarball and are not the developer of the software. 
Another core principle is that defaulting to imperfect success is 
better than utter failure.

Bob
--
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/