RE: libtool && automake

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Duane Wessels [mailto:wessels@squid-cache.org]
>
> On Fri, 16 Mar 2001, Robert Collins wrote:
>
> > I'm nearing the point on the generic modules branch where I'll start
> > going for a dynamic module. I'd like to use libtool
> (because it makes my
> > life _much easier_ on cygwin). To prevent making the
> makefiles a real
> > headache to craft, I'd like to get automake to make the
> libtool commands
> > ...
> >
> > So are the any reasons I shouldn't convert squid to automake ?
> >
> > What I suggest I do is, make a small branch, get automake
> integrated and
> > tested across a few platforms (with some assistance from the peanut
> > gallery :] ). Then if that looks good get it merged into
> HEAD, so that
> > the generic modules patch will be simply adding libtool, rather than
> > both at once.
>
> I'm not familiar with automake and libtool. Can you please
> explain more
> about those. Is it supposed to replace configure? What are
> the issues?
>

Autoconf, Automake and libtool taken togther are the autotools.
http://sources.redhat.com/autobook/

Automake complements autoconf by creating the Makefile.in's needed for a
project. It does this from a Makefile.am which is _much_ smaller than
the Makefile.in's we have now. It understands sub directories, parallel
builds, language dependencies ...

Using automake one can have autogenerated rules to make distribution
tarballs & check them. The benefit of autogenerated rules is that all
the dependant rules are updated automatically.

At it's core libtool is a wrapper around ranlib, ar, dlltool, gcc, ld
... that understands the complexities of building static archives on
most platforms, and the complexities of building dynamic libraries on
most platforms. The benefits it brings is much easier maintenance of
link commands, to work across the board (Irix | Sun | GNU/* | *BSD |
WIN32 | ... ). The downside to libtool is that the Makefile.in starts to
get a bit cumbersome... which automake will solve.

I can do up a sample automake squid environment and let you see the
difference if you'd like.

The end user experience doesn't change from
./configure && make && make install

Rob
Received on Mon Mar 19 2001 - 19:30:19 MST