Re: HELP: Compiling GTK+ Applications on UNIX

[Paul Davis <pbd Op Net>]

>> the first one is deprecated, involves lots of ugly m4 macros, can
>> require disgusting filesystem hacking to deal with aclocal's stupid
>> design, and is basically in poor taste.
>
>that's nonsense. gtk-config is a simple bash script and no m4 macros
>are involved. You are probably confusing this with the AM_PATH_GTK()
>aclocal macro. 

thats true, i am. however, what i didn't mention was that the
proliferation of foo-config scripts is also a problem, seen mostly
clearly when packages come out in a new version and the user wants
both of them installed. pkg-config handles that much more pleasantly. 

		That macro offers much more functionality than using
>gtk-config directly and adds additional checks (like consistency of
>headers and library). I'd stronly recommened its use.

i'd strongly recommend against its use. PKG_CHECK_MODULES is a much
cleaner solution.

why? mostly because pkg-config actually has the sense to use an
environment variable to look for the files it needs, but also because
it automatically builds "recursive" dependency lists for you.

>GTK+-2.0 has a similar macro AM_PATH_GTK_2_0() and pkg-config also
>installs a nice autoconf macro called PKG_CHECK_MODULES(). Read 
>about it in the pkg-config manpage.

i sincerely hope that in a future release of the 1.2 series,
pkg-config gets added.

>I agree that aclocal is poorly designed and it should really honor
>the ACLOCAL_FLAGS environment variable directly instead of relying
>on hacks in autogen.sh and configure.in. 

do you have any idea how much pain is involved in making this work? 
dealing with the problem of autoconf macros installed in
/usr/local/share/aclocal *and* /usr/share/aclocal *and* .../aclocal
*and* somewhere else has been the biggest and most enduring problem i
have had using autoconf. despite my appreciation for what autoconf
provides, this experience has left a distinctly sour taste in my mouth.

>However you shouldn't need
>to hack your filesystem to make aclocal and autoconf happy.

i still cannot believe the idea of a program that allows files to be
installed in multiple locations and only looks in one by default.

sorry, i'll be quiet now :)

--p