[xslt] trouble building libxslt (was "Re: libxslt causing Bus error on Mac OS X")

[Syd Bauman <Syd_Bauman Brown edu>]

> Whoa. I'd like to try [building libxslt from Subversion source] ...

So I built and installed libxml2 from the hourly subversion
snapshot without a hitch. I then went to build and install libxslt.

I read the INSTALL, which implied I should run `./autogen.sh`, but
there was no such program, so I used `./configure
--with-libxml-src=../libxml2-2.6.30`. 

All seemed OK. But then, near the end of `make`, there was a `gcc`
command that caused an error:

| /usr/local/src/libxml2-2.6.30/.libs/.libs/libxml2.dylib:
| No such file or directory

There were quite a few other warnings and potential problems, but
this one was the show-stopper. That ".libs/.libs" just looks wrong.
After a few minutes I still could not find the source line in the
Makefile that issued this command, though, so I gave up. I wasn't
very successful on a web-search for this, either, but [1] convinced me
that this is a semi-known problem, and that I don't even come close
to understanding it.

So I went into /usr/local/src/libxml2-2.6.30/.libs/, created a new
".libs/" directory, and copied both the symlink "libxml2.dylib" and
the file to which it points into the new directory.

I re-ran `make` and it seems to have worked! Preliminary tests are
that I now have a brand-spanking new xsltproc (not to mention
xmllint) that can compile the TEI stylesheets and does not cause a
bus error.

So, is my system messed up somehow, is that ".libs/.libs" a bug, or
was I supposed to make that extra directory?

In any case, thanks, Dave Beckett.


Notes
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[1] http://lists.debian.org/debian-ia64/2001/11/msg00017.html