./configure command

[Michael Hennebry]

On Fri, 7 Apr 2006, Paul Howarth wrote:

> On Fri, 2006-04-07 at 14:03 -0500, Michael Hennebry wrote:
> > On Fri, 7 Apr 2006, Paul Howarth wrote:
> >
> > > Michael Hennebry wrote:
> > > > On Fri, 7 Apr 2006, Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> On Thu, 2006-04-06 at 21:22 -0500, Michael Hennebry wrote:
> > > >>> One does not have to become root.
> > > >>> If one does want the software
> > > >>> installed as system software,
> > > >>> do some testing first.
> > > >>> Edit Makefile,
> > > >>> removing any .SILENT targets.
> > > >>> As an ordinary user,
> > > >>> make -n prefix=/opt 'CP=cp -i' install 2>&1 | tee makeno.out
> > > >> Same as above. This won't work in most cases.
> > > >
> > > > In this case, I'm not sure what "won't work" means.
> > > > Do you mean that it won't give one a good idea whether
> > > > something one doesn't want clobbered will get clobbered?
> > >
> > > Possibly. A large proportion of projects use "install" rather than "cp"
> > > in their Makefile "install" targets.
> >
> > Is there a reason that the install commands wouldn't show up in
> > the output or that they would be performed despite the -n flag?
> > The 'CP=cp -i' would obviously be useless.
>
> It was the 'CP=cp -i' that I was referring to. The "-n" should indeed
> prevent any commands from actually being run. However, the volume of
> output you get from an autotools-generated Makefile with "-n" would make
> it easy to miss something important, particularly given that some of the

I know what you mean.
I've encountered make files that would emit messages like
*** compiling foo.c ***
and make the actual compile step silent,
hence my advice about .SILENT .
The @'s before some commands should also be eliminated.

> output could include complex if/then type arrangements.

Weren't autotools supposed to eliminate that sort of thing?
>From your comment, I gather they didn't.

-- 
Mike   hennebry at web.cs.ndsu.NoDak.edu
"Demons after money?
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