Re: RFC: Update top level libtool files

[Michael Haubenwallner <michael dot haubenwallner at ssi-schaefer dot com>]

On 10/10/2017 04:04 PM, David Edelsohn wrote:
> On Tue, Oct 10, 2017 at 7:45 AM, Nick Clifton <nickc@redhat.com> wrote:
>> Hi Guys,
>>
>>   I would like to update the top level libtool files (libtool.m4,
>>   ltoptions.m4, ltsugar.m4, ltversion.m4 and lt~obsolete.m4) used by
>>   gcc, gdb and binutils.  Currently we have version 2.2.7a installed in
>>   the source trees and I would like to switch to the latest official
>>   version: 2.4.6.
>>
>>   The motivation for doing this is an attempt to reduce the number of
>>   patches being carried round by the Fedora binutils releases.
>>   Currently one of the patches there is to fix a bug in the 2.2.7a
>>   libtool which causes it to select /lib and /usr/lib as the system
>>   library search paths even for 64-bit hosts.  Rather than just bring
>>   this patch into the sources however, I thought that it would be better
>>   to upgrade to the latest official libtool release and use that
>>   instead.
>>
>>   I have successfully run an x86_64 gcc bootstrap, built and tested lots
>>   of different binutils configurations, and built and run an x86_64 gdb.
>>   One thing that worries me though, is why hasn't this been done before?
>>   Ie is there a special reason for staying with the old 2.2.7a libtool ?
>>   If not, then does anyone object to my upgrading the gcc, gdb and
>>   binutils mainline sources ?
> 
> AIX is another target that will need to be tested carefully for such a change.

FWIW: There's at least this one approved libtool patch with commit pending
(I don't have commit access to libtool myself):
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/libtool-patches/2016-03/msg00030.html

Additionally, I've recognized - but not double-checked - that symbols within
anonymous namespace (and maybe static symbols too) have _GLOBAL__ in the
middle of their symbol name, which should not be exported too I believe.

Thanks!
/haubi/