> The fundamental problem with this is that while the GNU Coding Standards [1]
> are fuzzy about this issue, there are now two opposite ways to specify
> the ABI.
How about combining the benefits of both ways, like this:
- If an ABI=32 or ABI=64 specification is passed on the configure
command line or through the environment, then configure modifies
$CC, $CXX, $F77, $FC with -m32 or -m64, as appropriate.
- If an ABI=32 or ABI=64 specification is not present, then configure
leaves $CC, $CXX, $F77, $FC unmodified.
The first case will be an improvement for all packages except GMP:
People who install a package can think about the ABI in an abstract way
and delegate the choice of -m32/-m64 to configure.
The second case will be an improvement for GMP: It will make the default
ABI depend on the compiler, like all other GNU programs currently do.
Bruno
