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Message-ID: <3AA7AE46.35CFC97C@ece.gatech.edu>
Date: Thu, 08 Mar 2001 11:07:34 -0500
From: "Charles S. Wilson" <cwilson AT ece DOT gatech DOT edu>
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To: Alexandre Oliva <oliva AT lsd DOT ic DOT unicamp DOT br>
CC: Christopher Faylor <cgf AT redhat DOT com>, autoconf AT gnu DOT org, cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: Re: Detecting the need for -mwin32 in newer cygwin gcc's
References: <20010307161214 DOT A20717 AT redhat DOT com>
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Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> 
> On Mar  8, 2001, "Charles S. Wilson" <cwilson AT ece DOT gatech DOT edu> wrote:
> 
> > So, by absorbing AC_PROG_GCC_USES_MWIN32, are you helping the GPL half,
> > or the proprietary half?
> 
> > By refusing to absorb it, are you hurting the proprietary half, or the
> > GPL half?
> 
> > Both, of course.
> 
> > Which is more important?
> 
> Autoconf is about portability across multiple platforms.  If you
> depend on MS-Windows proprietary libraries, there's not much hope for
> portability.  So, why use autoconf, in the first place?

Robert Collins seems to have addressed this question satisfactorily. 
The only reason *I* wrote the reply above, was merely to correct what
was, in my view, a fallacious predicate for the argument against
AC_PROG_GCC_USES_MWIN32.

Denying the macro because it would "promot[e] the use of proporietary
software" was a bad argument, because it isn't true, IMO.  And *that*
was the thrust of my message.

Now, it seems there are other arguments against AC_PROG_GCC_USES_MWIN32
that are not based in the holy war between free and proprietary software
-- Earnie Boyd's, for instance.  Fine -- hash it out; I don't know
enough about autoconf to have an opinion one way or the other.

--Chuck

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