delorie.com/archives/browse.cgi   search  
Mail Archives: djgpp-workers/1999/01/10/06:34:33

Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1999 13:33:18 +0200 (IST)
From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
X-Sender: eliz AT is
To: "Mark E." <snowball3 AT usa DOT net>
cc: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: shell utils 1.16 question
In-Reply-To: <199901082041.UAA153364@out5.ibm.net>
Message-ID: <Pine.SUN.3.91.990110133301.20678S-100000@is>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Reply-To: djgpp-workers AT delorie DOT com

On Fri, 8 Jan 1999, Mark E. wrote:

> > Let's not break things that don't have to be broken.
> 
> It seems to me when we have to recreate configure scripts that 
> something is already broken.

Indeed.  But the broken thing is the configure script itself, not the
way `test' works in the DJGPP port.  So you suggest to fix the wrong
part, IMHO.

The right way to fix this is to change Autoconf so that the generated
scripts automatically work correctly on DOS and Windows.  Since "test -x"
cannot be used unconditionally (some old shells don't support it), one
way that works is this:

    if test -n "$COMSPEC$ComSpec"; then ac_x=-x; else ac_x=-f; fi

(the ComSpec part is for NT) and subsequently use "test $ac_x" instead
of "test -f".

What Robert suggests is also okay, provided that the check for "test -x"
is done when the script (as opposed to Autoconf) actually runs.

Since Autoconf was not actively maintained during last several years,
I succeeded to convince several maintainers of GNU packages to make
such changes in their local Autoconf files.  Now, that Autoconf is
maintained again, I suggest we join forces to try and push this (and
other) DJGPP-related changes into the official Autoconf release.

- Raw text -


  webmaster     delorie software   privacy  
  Copyright © 2019   by DJ Delorie     Updated Jul 2019