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Standardised doesn't mean popular. It means you know what --help, --enable-foo, DESTDIR, etc. will do and that you can rely on that format. It means packaging c
by viraptor 2y ago
Standardised doesn't mean popular. It means you know what --help, --enable-foo, DESTDIR, etc. will do and that you can rely on that format. It means packaging can rely on the same flow and common options for each package using autoconf. It then means that unless you've got very specific needs, your packaging can be abstracted to "here's the source, the name and the version - go!" and that's the abstraction many distros provide.
- hnfong 2y agoYes, and everyone knows what those options are, and can expect the same flow for each package because... ... autoconf is popular.
- wakawaka28 2y agoYou're partly right but autoconf's design is pretty rigid. I've never seen one where the install destination isn't set via one of the standard flags like --prefix. But I have seen other build systems randomize their install processes. Maybe this is a function of what kind of people use each tool. Autotools is mainly adopted by experienced geeks. Other build systems are more beginner-friendly and that might result in less appropriate solutions being written.
- jujube3 2y agoOnce you leave behind the simple things like --prefix, it's not that standardized. But, arguing over this is futile, this wheel has been reinvented innumerable times.
- viraptor 2y agoIt works in practice. I've probably looked at over a thousand packages by now and haven't seen anybody do anything really weird.