[mplayer-dev-eng] use gcc instead of calling ld directly

[Rüdiger Kuhlmann]

>--[Paul Jarc]--<prj at po.cwru.edu>
> Diego Biurrun <diego at biurrun.de> wrote:
> > Paul Jarc writes:
> >> Great, thanks.  On another note, it would also be convenient if the
> >> autoconf setup were more conventional, so we could pass CFLAGS,
> >> LDFLAGS, etc., in the environment to ./configure.
> > We do not use autoconf.

Which is a problem, because it is just re-inventing the wheel poorly.

> So I see.  But my point is that it would be beneficial for users if
> you did.  As long as it's not too much trouble for you, of course -
> but then, it's meant to make less work for you.

Don't expect mplayer developers to follow best practice. They won't do
anyway, and if it's just for the fun of being non-standard.

>--[D Richard Felker III]--<dalias at aerifal.cx>
> On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 01:34:53PM -0500, Paul Jarc wrote:
> > Arpi <arpi at thot.banki.hu> wrote:

> If our script is buggy we'll fix the bugs. Yes, every once in a while
> someone commits dumb bash2-specific code to it, but the same mistake
> can be made with configure.in! Just drink the cola, fix it, and move
> along.

You say you know autoconf - however, the file where autoconf generates
configure from is called configure.ac. Go figure.

> If there are missing features in our script, feel free to add them.

You mean, if you found yet another spoke, someone needs to do a lot of work
to reach the level of autoconf for at least that topic?

> > > and in my experience autoconf versions are not backward compatible
> > > sometimes, so running it is a nightmare, and as mplayer is used by
> > > users as cvs version, it may be a problem for them.

Actually, for a project as big as mplayer making sure you have the most
recent autoconf is hardly an issue.

> > Regardless, there are some projects that store the autoconf-generated
> > files in CVS.

That's bad practice because it's an auto-generated file.

> This still means any developer who wants to update the configure
> script must have the right version of autoconf installed (bad),

No, just a trivial problem. Installing autoconf takes 5 minutes. Just make
sure to have snapshot every once and then that are cvs-up-able, and you
don't even that.

> pollutes the CVS logs immensely since autoconf insists on hard coding
> line numbers all over the generated file, making it so even a small
> modification alters the entire file.

Last time I checked it's simply not true. Actually, your claim is wrong
since autoconf 2.54, while 2.57 is current.

>--[D Richard Felker III]--<dalias at aerifal.cx>
> On Mon, Mar 24, 2003 at 01:55:37PM -0500, Paul Jarc wrote:

> From my experience, adding the correct M4 macros to configure.in to
> detect what you want is no easier than adding the shell script to
> MPlayer's configure. I don't see how it saves any human effort.

The standard features to check for are rather easy, and the more difficult
stuff isn't any harder as well.

> > Aren't they able to learn?  If someone volunteers to do the initial
> > work and stay around to provide hand-holding when needed, would they
> > still refuse to learn?
> Maybe, maybe not. Like I said, I already know autoconf and find it
> disgusting.

Maybe the problem is that you think you do while you don't at all...

> > needs to have different versions installed for different projects, you
> > can install different versions with different prefixes so they don't
> > collide.
> Yes but I will not pollute my system with such ugliness.

You know, real professionalism is not letting your dogma get in your way.

Btw, about different versions of autoconf: any sane distro has a wrapper
that will multiplex between autoconf-ancient and autoconf-current
automagically as soon as you install both.

>--[Anonymous Coward]--<gabucino at mplayerhq.hu>
> Paul Jarc wrote:
> > If someone volunteers to do the initial work and stay around to provide
> > hand-holding when needed, would they still refuse to learn?
> Now you got it.

You know, real professionalism is not letting your dogma get in your way.

Oh, I'm starting to repeat myself. Oh well.

>--[Anonymous Coward]--<gabucino at mplayerhq.hu>

> We know that feeling when we download a CVS of some stuff, and it
> vomits 65535 pages of missing AC_* and AM_* macros. You want that?

Actually, that never happened to me, because those macros are always
distributed with the respective program (and if not, don't blame autoconf
for it).

> If MPlayer switches to auto*, I'm leaving the project.

The Q is whether this would be bad at all.

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