[gentoo-dev] link or patch?

[gentoo-dev] link or patch?

[John Stalker]

Some packages look for files in the wrong place, e.g. /usr/include/libxml
for files which gentoo puts in /usr/include/libxml2/libxml, and don't
have configure options to specify the correct path.  One can fix this
either by patching Makefiles or by creating symlinks.  I normally do
the latter.  My question is: What should one do in an ebuild?  Does
gentoo have a policy about how to fix these packages?
--
John Stalker
Department of Mathematics
Princeton University
(609)258-6469

Re: [gentoo-dev] link or patch?

[Grant Goodyear]

> Some packages look for files in the wrong place, e.g. /usr/include/libxml
> for files which gentoo puts in /usr/include/libxml2/libxml, and don't
> have configure options to specify the correct path.  One can fix this
> either by patching Makefiles or by creating symlinks.  I normally do
> the latter.  My question is: What should one do in an ebuild?  Does
> gentoo have a policy about how to fix these packages?

In general we prefer to patch the Makefiles (or add the correct flag
to ./configure).

Best,
g2boojum

Re: [gentoo-dev] link or patch?

[Charles Kerr]

> In general we prefer to patch the Makefiles (or add the correct flag
> to ./configure).
>
> Best,
> g2boojum
>


Hmm, the only thought on "patching" the file.  As the portage system gets 
larger, it could make a maintenance nightmare as new versions of the app come 
out.  If the library stays low, with a good documentation for the user so 
they supplement with their own set, it isnt so much work. But if the portage 
library as released gets large, keeping it up to date with patches seems like 
a pretty large effort.  (an example of this problem is OpenBSD.  Just put 3.0 
on, and a lot of the ports dont build/install. Rather annoying.).  

Anyway, just  pointing out the potential for a maintenance effort.  If all 
ready thought about, then just ignore this input *smile*.


Charles

Re: [gentoo-dev] link or patch?

[Martin Schlemmer]

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On Sun, 2002-01-13 at 21:22, Grant Goodyear wrote:
> > Some packages look for files in the wrong place, e.g. /usr/include/libxml
> > for files which gentoo puts in /usr/include/libxml2/libxml, and don't
> > have configure options to specify the correct path.  One can fix this
> > either by patching Makefiles or by creating symlinks.  I normally do
> > the latter.  My question is: What should one do in an ebuild?  Does
> > gentoo have a policy about how to fix these packages?
> 
> In general we prefer to patch the Makefiles (or add the correct flag
> to ./configure).
> 

You can also do something like:

src_compile(){

	CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} -I/usr/include/libxml2"

	./configure ......

}


Greetings,

-- 

Martin Schlemmer
Gentoo Linux Developer, Desktop Team Developer
Cape Town, South Africa


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