Re: autoconfiscating top level directory -- info wanted

[Phil Edwards <pedwards at disaster dot jaj dot com>]

On Thu, Jan 03, 2002 at 08:22:40AM -0500, Nathanael Nerode wrote:
> I am autoconfiscating the top level directory, as suggested in the
> beginners projects list.

Wow.  We listed that as a beginner project?


> The ones in the gcc CVS tree are easy to find, but I know that there are
> others from other sources -- what others are this script used for?

For extraordinarily mind-bubblingly stupid political reasons, the GNU
toolchain is split into two CVS repositories: one containing GCC, and one
containing a bunch of other things:  binutils (the linker, the assembler,
etc), gdb, the Tcl/Tk front end for gdb, the portable C library called
newlib, the platform simulator, and a bunch of other stuff which I don't
remember.

Many GNU hackers glue these trees together when building tools; the scripts
and makefiles know about the sibling trees.  For example, if binutils and
gcc are in the same tree, then the top-level makefiles will build binutils
first, and then when gcc builds, it knows to use the freshly-built assembler
and linker and whatnot living in the next directory over.

The idea at the top-level is "whatever sub-packages happen to exist,
build them."


> (The
> current script assumes a huge list of tools including emacs 18, emacs 19, 
> apache (!?!), and so I hope they aren't all still configured by this
> script!)

I honestly don't know about some of that stuff.  Obviously they're not
part of the toolchain[*], but I can see where the original authors might
have said to themselves, "hey, let's write a super-generic build script
that can configure arbitrary programs," or some such.

I've never heard of anyone taking advantage of this, but then I'm not a
system vendor.


[*]  Anyone who considers a web server as part of the toolchain is severely
     broken in the head.

Phil

-- 
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater
than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace.  We seek
not your counsel, nor your arms.  Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you;
and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.            - Samuel Adams