[MPlayer-dev-eng] autoconf

[Paul Jarc]

D Richard Felker III <dalias at aerifal.cx> wrote:
> So, if I install 2.5x to build new programs that require it, I can't
> build a few old programs that require 2.13,

If the generated files are stored in CVS, users won't have to worry
about that.

> Also I just fail to see how a bunch of ugly M4 macros and unreadable
> machine-generated shellscript are preferable to straightforward
> human-readable script.

More use -> more testing -> fewer bugs.  Familiar features.

> If I'm a user and get an error from MPlayer's configure, I can read
> the script and actually tell what's wrong. With autoconf, trying to
> read the script is hopeless.

I agree on that point; I'm working on my own build script generator
that creates much more readable scripts.  (It's designed for
slashpackage, though, so I wouldn't have been able to use autoconf
anyway for the projects where I use my generator.)
<URL:http://cr.yp.to/slashpackage.html>

But this problem is offset (to some degree) by the fact that
autoconf's scripts are better tested and thus less buggy; you don't
need to debug the script as often.


paul