Re: Please do not install a charset.alias file under Mac OS X

[Vincent Lefevre]

Hi,

On 2008-11-14 21:11:56 -0700, Eric Blake wrote:
> You are better off filing this report against gettext, which is the
> source of this file, and/or gnulib, which ships the latest version
> of this file even in packages (such as m4) that have not yet
> undergone the I18n conversion to use gettext.

I've just reported a bug against gettext:

  https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/index.php?25235

> > Moreover, even if it didn't break anything, the file is overwritten
> > when another such software is installed.
> 
> The installation process is supposed to modify, not overwrite, the
> charset.alias file to append the names of additional packages that are
> using it.

The problem is that MacPorts works by installing everything in
some private directory (hence different versions of a same port
can be "installed" at the same time), then MacPorts can activate
some version of a port by adding hard links. This is a bit like
how GNU Stow works (though Stow uses symbolic links).

With a file that is shared by various software, this system leads
to conflicts (a file in standard directories can belong to only one
port). I wonder if there's a standard way to declare a file like
charset.alias as shared by various software.

I've seen that a charset.alias file is not installed by utilities
like m4 under GNU/Linux, so that the above problem cannot appear
on this system. If the correction of the gettext bug makes the
charset.alias file also disappear under Mac OS X, then everything
will be fine.

-- 
Vincent Lefèvre <address@hidden> - Web: <http://www.vinc17.org/>
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