Re: where should libtool libraries be installed? /usr/lib? /usr/local/lib?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

[ I Cc:ed the mailing list -- this is also interesting for others ]

* Ed Hartnett wrote on Thu, May 12, 2005 at 03:18:27PM CEST:
> Ralf Wildenhues <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> Thanks for answering Ralf! How are things in Germany this morning? 

Well, *this* morning, things are still dark.  :)

> > * Ed Hartnett wrote on Thu, May 12, 2005 at 01:01:17AM CEST:
> >> 
> >> I'm converting the library to use libtool, but I have a very basic
> >> question: where should my library (by default) be installed?
> >
> > I'd guess whereever the user wants it?
> > Do you mean where below $prefix or which $prefix to prefer?
> 
> No I mean where should the default install location be? The vast
> majority of our users are (almost) non-programmer scientists, who
> never even heard of the prefix parameter. They will install our
> package in whatever default we choose.

Do not change the predefined value for $prefix.  Tell them to look at
  ./configure --help
for possible configuration options, educate them about --prefix! :-)

> We had been using /usr/local/lib, but I switched to libtool, and it
> doesn't seem to include this directory in its default search path. Or
> maybe I'm just missing something.

Which system did you see this on, compiler, output of
  gcc -print-search-dirs
in case you use gcc?

> >> In the good old days, I would have unhesitatingly answered
> >> /usr/local/lib. But it seems that, when linking, libtool itself does
> >> not look in /usr/local/lib by default. (Or am I missing something?)
> >
> > Ah, you talk about $prefix.  Leave that to user discretion.
> > Whether libtool looks in /usr/local/lib by default, *should* depend on
> > the system in question, and whether it looks there by default for
> > linking.  (Barring any bugs, that is.)
> 
> It used to be that we could always count on /usr/local/lib, but now,
> we can't?

I would not happen to know what we changed.  Which system?

BTW, libtool stores this knowledge in sys_lib_search_path_spec.
We have (or should have) a TODO list item to allow to override the value
of this at configure time.

> > So if your software gets packaged, it would probably show up under /usr,
> > else it should not live there.
> 
> We do intend to package it as well, but that's in the future.

OK.

> > But please don't install below $top_srcdir!  It confuses tools!
> 
> Can you give an example of a tool that will be confused?

Libtool will be, I believe.  Not quite sure about Automake.
(This warning is more of a safety measure than anything else.  I am very
much a fan of source tree != build tree != install tree, if only because
the number of build trees on my system is several times higher than the
number of source and install trees.)

Regards,
Ralf