[maemo-developers] [maemo-developers] why autotools?

[From: Asko Kauppi]

Scons can do the compile-time-dependency checks quite nicely, but  
admitted, it's a different way of thinkin' altogether (build scripts  
are all Python).  Anyhow, the reasoning you guys are giving is  
meaningful, although I still think use of autotools is slowing down  
package creation unnecessarily. Good points, tho.

btw, One neat thing I especially value in Scons is the way it  
considers changes in compilation flags as a trigger for  
recompilation. That is, it's much more clever than regular make, and  
essentially takes away the need to 'make clean' every so often.

-ak


Nils Faerber kirjoitti 25.9.2005 kello 14.12:

> Asko Kauppi wrote:
>
>>
>> The Maemo system, examples and all, build heavily on use of   
>> autotools.
>> Now, in my opinion the sole use of that toolchain is to  cover  
>> multiple
>> *nixes in a somewhat controllable fashion.
>>
>> The question is: why does a Maemo-only hello world use autotools,   
>> since
>> there's clearly no benefit per se from having that "have this  have
>> that" analysis done?  Why not just use Makefiles, or better  still,
>> something like SCons (www.scons.org) ?
>>
>
> I do not know SCons I have to admit but a reason for autotools is also
> that it can check for dependent packages, i.e. if your application
> depends on, say, SQLite, it will check for the appropriate version of
> the dependency, availability of needed headers, etc...
> So quite convenient.
> And it can also do decision upon failing tests, if your application
> supprts multiple sulutions for one problem, like support for multiple
> databases it can automatically choose the preferred on out of all
> possible detected choices.
>
> As always, there are more ways leading to success and the road taken
> here was autotools... maybe other tools would have served the same  
> goals
> in an easier fashion...
>
>
>> -ak
>>
> Cheers
>   nils faerber
>
> -- 
> kernel concepts          Tel: +49-271-771091-12
> Dreisbachstr. 24         Fax: +49-271-771091-19
> D-57250 Netphen          Mob: +49-176-21024535
> --
>