[gentoo-dev] [RFC] Dealing with global /usr/bin/libtool use vs CC/CXX etc.

["Michał Górny" <mgorny@gentoo.org>]

Hi,

The vast majority of libtool-based programs use configure script to
generate libtool.  However, a few non-autoconf packages also use libtool
by calling system-installed /usr/bin/libtool.  The problem is that this
libtool hardcodes the values of CC/CXX at its' build time, so unless it
is rebuilt frequently, packages end up using the stale values.
The problem is known since 2005 [1] and hasn't been resolved yet.

I can think of two ways of solving it:

1. We could patch system-installed libtool to respect environment
variables such as CC, CXX, etc.  This will probably require carrying
a (possibly non-trivial) patch forever.  On the bright side, libtool is
not exactly a package seeing frequent releases.  I mean, the current
version is from 2015.

2. We could regenerate libtool and force local instance of libtool
in the packages needing it.  The main advantage of this is that it's
a no-brainer.  I could make a quick eclass that does configure a local
instance and prepends it into PATH.

WDYT?


[1] https://bugs.gentoo.org/88596

-- 
Best regards,
Michał Górny