Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: Re: Re: crossdev and multilib interference

[Joshua Kinard <kumba@gentoo.org>]

On 06/17/2014 10:56, Alexandre Rostovtsev wrote:
> On Tue, 2014-06-17 at 10:17 -0400, Joshua Kinard wrote:
>> What I'd like to see is a list of all affected packages so we all can get a
>> sense of just how big the actual problem really is.  All I am hearing so far
>> are unsubstantiated claims of tree-wide breakage.  Knowing which packages
>> are broken allows other devs to look at things and maybe come to agreement
>> that crossdev is the source of the problem or perhaps another solution that
>> applies to all of them can be worked up.
> 
> All multilib packages that use pkgconfig, for one thing. (Which means almost
> all multilib packages.) Because current crossdev versions blindly install their
> /usr/bin/i686-pc-linux-gnu-pkg-config wrapper script, overwriting the binary
> belonging to pkgconfig[abi_x86_32].

But how many packages is that?  Is there a way to filter and count the
packages in the tree that are both multilib-capable and rely on pkgconfig?
This still doesn't convey the scale of the perceived problem, and this is
why people are not really convinced that a problem exists and that crossdev
is the source of the problem.

I am intentionally playing the role of the outsider on this because I don't
use multilib yet.  Linux/MIPS kinda started the whole multilib thing anyways
w/ the o32/n32/n64 setup that got carried over from IRIX.  Later on, you had
x86_64 join the fray, which made the problem much more noticeable.  Convince
me that there is a problem and that crossdev is the source of that problem.
 Right now, it seems to me that the problem isn't limited to just one
package created by Gentoo, but it's just that a LOT of packages in the
open-source world still haven't updated their build systems to account for
multiple-ABI installs.

Brainstorm: Would making crossdev's installation of the ${CHOST}-pkg-config
wrapper optional solve the problem somewhat?  Perhaps as a USE flag that
multilib/pkgconfig packages can check in DEPEND and throw warnings about?
Do any of the other crossdev-installed ${CHOST}- prefixed scripts or
binaries installed in /usr/bin cause similar problems, or does everything
hinge on this one script?

-- 
Joshua Kinard
Gentoo/MIPS
kumba@gentoo.org
4096R/D25D95E3 2011-03-28

"The past tempts us, the present confuses us, the future frightens us.  And
our lives slip away, moment by moment, lost in that vast, terrible in-between."

--Emperor Turhan, Centauri Republic