Re: Autoconf and apt

[Tim Post]

On Tue, 2008-08-19 at 08:57 +0200, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> So if you like, a good way out would be this, in pseudo-code:
> 
>   if $missing_libfoo; then
>     AC_MSG_ERROR([This package needs $libfoo.  Please tell your system
> administrator to `apt-get build-dep $PACKAGE])
>   fi
> 
> with possibly adjusting for apt, rpm, etc.  What more could Autoconf
> provide?

I chimed in on something similar to this a while back. I once thought
about just sourcing packages and building them in the home directory,
but quickly decided that was a bad idea.

This can quickly turn in to a never ending mess, as libfoo may depend on
libbar, which depends on libfoobar, which depends on libbarfoo
(..., ...).

What would be useful is an AC_SUGGEST_PACKAGE macro that writes to a
file named (perhaps packages.needed) which the user can then use as a
guide to meet dependencies.

The problem is, as I was discussing earlier variances in package and
meta-package names from distro to distro. This means the only time
AC_SUGGEST_PACKAGE() would be useful is for unattended builds, scripts
could look for its output if configure exits non-zero.

I really don't think shooting for an automated install per dependency is
a good idea, its a big can of worms that I'm currently trying to get out
from under.

Cheers,
--Tim

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