Just a nit, but configure is quite happy to use the PATH environment variable,
not that it mentions this anywhere in the output of "sh configure help". Yes,
I know that PATH is implicit, yes, I know that I am complaining about Unix
documentation, yes I know that the new build system is in fact still new, and
yes I know that the people who write documentation never get the time/respect
that they deserve.
Also note that the output of "sh configure -help" uses the word "PATH" to refer
to the directory value for whatever option is currently being described, as in:
--with-cups specify prefix directory for the cups package
(expecting the headers under PATH/include)
Probably best not to do that.
Long term it would be good to rationalize both configure and make w.r.t. to
documentation and flags.
Sample problem #1 (does the documentation tell us this?) how do I specify a
flag to the assembler?
Sample problem #2 (does the documentation tell us this?) how do I specify a
particular compiler for Objective C source?
(I "solved" sample problem #1 with find, grep, and trial and error. I have not
solved sample problem #2.)
David
On 2013-01-14, at 4:10 AM, Erik Joelsson <erik.joels...@oracle.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> The help text produced by autoconf is part specific to our scripts and part
> is standard autoconf stuff. The variable section is part of the standard
> help. It's bad that the script isn't behaving as the help text suggests and
> we should try to fix that if possible. We definitely need to review the
> documentation.
>
> We have avoided letting environment variables affect configure. The reason is
> reproducibility, we want to force configuration options to the command line
> so that it's obvious someone put them there for a reason, rather than
> something hidden in the environment secretly changing things. For this issue
> I'm not sure which would be the best solution. It could use some discussion.
>
> /Erik
>
