On Friday 14 December 2012 05:43:41 Fabian Groffen wrote:
> gen_usr_ldscript() vs --libdir=/lib.  Questions on why, and if it makes
> sense to remove gen_usr_ldscript in favour of --libdir.  WilliamH will
> open a discussion on gentoo-dev ML.

these are orthogonal issues.  not every package using gen_usr_ldscript has a 
--libdir option, and even the ones that do commonly install more than one 
library but we really only want to move one.  plus with static libs, --libdir 
will install those into the wrong place.

so for most packages, the choice is either:
	src_configure() { econf ; }
	src_install() { default ; gen_usr_ldscript -a bar ; }
or:
	src_configure() { econf --libdir=/lib ; }
	src_install() {
		default
		dodir /usr/$(get_libdir)
		mv "${ED}"/$(get_libdir)/lib{f,x}* "${ED}"/usr/$(get_libdir)/ || die
		if use static-libs ; then
			mv "${ED}"/$(get_libdir)/*.{a,la} \
				"${ED}"/usr/$(get_libdir)/ || die
		fi
	}

the only time --libdir=/lib makes sense to use is when the path itself then 
gets used for things other than just the installation of libraries and there's 
no knob to control those other things.  like rules.d files.

i.e. saying "we should get rid of gen_usr_ldscript and use --libdir=/lib" 
makes absolutely no sense.  it's just begging for people to screw things up 
constantly and waste developer time for 0 gain.
-mike