[Bug libfortran/49970] New: "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[Bug libfortran/49970] New: "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

           Summary: "make prefix=... install" doesn't work
           Product: gcc
           Version: unknown
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P3
         Component: libfortran
        AssignedTo: unassigned@gcc.gnu.org
        ReportedBy: jimis@gmx.net


On a multilib x86_64 config, I tried doing "make prefix=$HOME/mydir install".
Installation failed in directory "x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu/32/libgfortran/"
because it tried writing to some dir under /usr/local. Looking into the
generated Makefile in that path I can see that the default prefix, /usr/local,
was hardcoded in several points.

Shouldn't it be ${prefix} instead of /usr/local?

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[kargl at gcc dot gnu.org]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

kargl at gcc dot gnu.org changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 CC|                            |kargl at gcc dot gnu.org

--- Comment #1 from kargl at gcc dot gnu.org 2011-08-03 18:49:11 UTC ---
Why do you think that this will work?

No where on http://gcc.gnu.org/install/ is the
form "make prefix=..." documented.

If you want to install gcc into a directory other
than /usr/local, then use 'path_to_gcc_src/configure
--prefix=where_gcc_will_live'.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #2 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2011-08-03 19:01:51 UTC ---
I use it casually for packages that use autotools to configure the build, it
always works fine. And for gcc it has worked for me plenty of times for i386
C-frontend only builds, and till not I've only seen libgfortran failing.

Why it should be supported? Especially for GCC it is very handy, I build the
beast without configuring --prefix at all, and then install someplace. Then I
apply some patch, hit make and only relevant files are compiled, and install
some place elsewhere. If I had to reconfigure with a different --prefix, make
would build many more files, and I'd have to delete various config.cache files
because I reconfigured.

Quote from automake manual: 

All these directory variables have values that start with either ‘${prefix}’ or
‘${exec_prefix}’ unexpanded. This works fine in Makefiles, but it makes these
variables hard to use in configure. This is mandated by the GNU coding
standards, so that the user can run ‘make prefix=/foo install’. The Autoconf
manual has a section with more details on this topic (see Installation
Directory Variables). See also Hard-Coded Install Paths.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[joseph at codesourcery dot com]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #3 from joseph at codesourcery dot com <joseph at codesourcery dot com> 2011-08-03 19:03:24 UTC ---
This is a bug in libtool.  See bug 46607.  It will need to be fixed in 
upstream libtool (see bug 46607 comment 10 for what might be the simplest 
approach).

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[sgk at troutmask dot apl.washington.edu]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #4 from Steve Kargl <sgk at troutmask dot apl.washington.edu> 2011-08-03 19:09:22 UTC ---
On Wed, Aug 03, 2011 at 07:01:55PM +0000, jimis at gmx dot net wrote:
> http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970
> 
> --- Comment #2 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2011-08-03 19:01:51 UTC ---
> I use it casually for packages that use autotools to configure the build, it
> always works fine. And for gcc it has worked for me plenty of times for i386
> C-frontend only builds, and till not I've only seen libgfortran failing.
> 
> Why it should be supported? Especially for GCC it is very handy, I build the
> beast without configuring --prefix at all, and then install someplace. Then I
> apply some patch, hit make and only relevant files are compiled, and install
> some place elsewhere. If I had to reconfigure with a different --prefix, make
> would build many more files, and I'd have to delete various config.cache files
> because I reconfigured.

Have you actually read the instead instructions for gcc?
Have you tried the documented method [*]:

make DESTDIR=path-to-rootdir install

[*] I don't know if it works.  If it fails, then you have
    bug to report.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #5 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2011-08-03 19:32:09 UTC ---
DESTDIR is supported just fine, but it is not prefix, it serves different
purposes. In particular it installs in /$DESTDIR/$prefix but installed package
would search libraries in /$prefix. 

joseph: Thanks for pointing me to that bug, hopefully this will be fixed in
libtool, it's much needed functionality at least for me.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[rguenth at gcc dot gnu.org]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

Richard Guenther <rguenth at gcc dot gnu.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |RESOLVED
         Resolution|                            |INVALID

--- Comment #6 from Richard Guenther <rguenth at gcc dot gnu.org> 2011-08-04 09:36:28 UTC ---
libtool bug.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|RESOLVED                    |VERIFIED

--- Comment #7 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2012-07-08 03:26:07 UTC ---
I'm really tired of invalidating whole builds by reconfiguring just to install
in a separate dir. I'm reopening this as a wishlist. 

Joseph: where can I track this for upstream libtool? I remember I had pinged
the libtool ML back then, but got no feedback.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Severity|normal                      |enhancement

--- Comment #8 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2012-07-08 03:30:45 UTC ---
It seems I can't reopen it, but this bug certainly isn't INVALID. It could be a
bug in libtool, but it manifests itself clearly in GCC.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[joseph at codesourcery dot com]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #9 from joseph at codesourcery dot com <joseph at codesourcery dot com> 2012-07-08 08:20:02 UTC ---
I don't know where the libtool bug tracker is, though I presume it has 
one.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[schwab@linux-m68k.org]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #10 from Andreas Schwab <schwab@linux-m68k.org> 2012-07-08 08:26:03 UTC ---
bug-libtool@gnu.org

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[redi at gcc dot gnu.org]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|VERIFIED                    |RESOLVED

--- Comment #11 from Jonathan Wakely <redi at gcc dot gnu.org> 2012-07-08 11:04:57 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #5)
> DESTDIR is supported just fine, but it is not prefix, it serves different
> purposes. In particular it installs in /$DESTDIR/$prefix but installed package
> would search libraries in /$prefix. 

It should search for everything using relative paths, i.e. relative to wherever
you install it, so DESTDIR should work.

[Bug libfortran/49970] "make prefix=... install" doesn't work

[jimis at gmx dot net]

http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=49970

--- Comment #12 from jimis <jimis at gmx dot net> 2012-07-09 09:52:52 UTC ---
(In reply to comment #10)
> bug-libtool@gnu.org

FWIW I had sent this but got no reply: 

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-libtool/2011-08/msg00003.html


Maybe we should open this or the other GCC PR so we can keep track of this
unwanted behaviour?