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Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 11:44:34 -0500
From: Christopher Faylor <cgf AT cygnus DOT com>
To: cygwin developers <cygwin-developers AT sourceware DOT cygnus DOT com>
Subject: Re: Question about making changes...
References: <19990304143055 DOT 15593 DOT rocketmail AT send102 DOT yahoomail DOT com> <36DEB260 DOT C6BF9CA3 AT cityweb DOT de>
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In-Reply-To: <36DEB260.C6BF9CA3@cityweb.de>; from Corinna Vinschen on Thu, Mar 04, 1999 at 05:18:40PM +0100

On Thu, Mar 04, 1999 at 05:18:40PM +0100, Corinna Vinschen wrote:
>I have downloaded the development tree of B20.1 in early December, then
>I have `./configure' in the tree's root dir. After I have done this once,
>I have compiled only, what is interesting to me, especially libio, newlib
>etc. Imagine a new winsup: I unpack it into the tree's root dir, cd into it
>and call `./configure'. Then I have to open `Makefile' with my editor,
>go to the line, which contains
>
>	updir:= $(dir $(srcdir))
>
>which is incorrect because of the local configure call, and change it to
>
>	updir:= ../

Can you tell me why ${dir ${srcdir}} != ../ if $(srcdir) is pointing to the
directory containing the sources?

>I can't remember exactly, because I didn't complain any time, s.th. didn't
>work instantly but AFAIK, this is one of very few interventions, I had to do.
>Maybe, it's my missing insight in the process of automake/autoconf.
>But nevertheless, so far, I could compile anything in the development tree.

Let me just reiterate:  If you want to set up your environment in the manner
which is proscribed by Cygnus *never* *ever* build in the same directory as
the source.

Make a separate build directory and run configure from there.

A mini-FAQ:

1) In a perfect world, should the configure/build work from the source
   directory?

   Yes.

2) Does Cygnus guarantee that configure/build's work from the source
   directory?

   No.

3) This sucks.  Why is this?

   Because 1) Cygnus engineers (and many GNU developers) don't do it that way
   and 2) our build instructions for our customers indicate that builds should
   occur in a separate directory.  The bottom line is that it never gets tested
   here so it is likely to be broken.

4) So if I find a bug in the configure/build in the source directory you don't
   want to see it?

   We're interested in fixes and will be happy to apply any changes to the
   configure.in, Makefile.in, etc. that make sense.

cgf