Hi, I maintain the ORBit packages for the Debian project. (ORBit is the CORBA component of GNOME). And I have a feature request for autoconf. I'm not an autoconf guru, so please bear with me.
Basically, ORBit contains a library for parsing IDL (Interface Definition Language) files. These files are passed through cpp. And the library is used both by the IDL compiler in ORBit and by various third-party language bindings such as perl, scheme and python. The autoconf issue comes up when choosing which cpp to use. Currently, autoconf seems to have a tropism for "gcc -E". Which is fine for a preprocessor used at build-time, but is a bit excessive for a run-time dependency. (_Most_ perl scripts don't need all of gcc to be present.) So, what I'd like to request is a macro to select the _smallest_, lightest-weight, fully-featured cpp available. Something that would have a tropism for GNU cpp, if available, rather than gcc. This could potentially be useful for many other programs that can or must use cpp at run-time (e.g. fvwm, perl, etc.). At the moment, I'm patching ORBit's libIDL to call "cpp" directly on Debian systems, but, obviously, this is not a portable solution. Any ideas or suggestions? Is this a completely crazy request? Please cc replies, as I'm not subscribed. (Though I do know where the archives reside.) cheers -- Chris Waters | Pneumonoultra- osis is too long [EMAIL PROTECTED] | microscopicsilico- to fit into a single or [EMAIL PROTECTED] | volcaniconi- standalone haiku