Re: [bug-inetutils] gnulib

[Jeff Bailey]

On 08/03/07, Alfred M. Szmidt <address@hidden> wrote:

> We already require the users to have specific versions of auto*
> installed, I was very suprised that we didn't keep those files in CVS
> while we keep gnulib.  I wouldn't even be raising this issue if we
> keep all autogenerated files in the CVS tree.

I argues most strongly against keeping autogenerated files in CVS,
iirc.  Since I tend to use versions that are all over the place, it
means that it was constantly committing stupid changes that I didn't
want unless I took extra care.

> As for users building CVS versions, I, or someone, could make
> snapshots of the tree that has all the autogenerated files.  I'm quite
> familiar with wanting to build things from CVS but cursing over the
> fact that the systsem I'm compiling on doesn't have the right version
> of FOO. :-)

I tend to keep the argument that projects not using the most recent
versions of the autotools are inherently broken and require patches
and cajoling of the maintainers until its fixed. =)

>    The gnulib stuff changes very quickly, which requires constant
>    fiddling with the bootstrap script to keep it up to date.
>
> Meyering promised that the bootstrap script would be included into
> gnulib, so I think this problem would vanish.

Any chance of autoreconf just picking it up?  It was discussed when I
first started the gnulib project, but we thought the interface to it
wasn't going to be settled, so we didn't want to cause troubles for
the rest of the autotools.

>    Moreover, sometimes the interfaces provided by the library change
>    in subtle way, introducing unwanted behaviors or bugs (e.g.  a
>    function that used to return pointer to the statical storage begins
>    returning a pointer to the allocated memory, causing memory leaks).

This shouldn't be true for replacement glibc and posix-replacement
functions.  For other helper functions that can't also be found in
glibc it could be.  I don't suspect it happens as often as this
paragraph suggests.

Tks,
Jeff Bailey

--
Jeff Bailey - http://www.raspberryginger.com/jbailey/