Re: Obsolete building in source dir?

[DJ Delorie <dj@redhat.com>]

> > Since every other source package on the planet (it seems) supports
> > building in the source directory, gcc should too.  To do otherwise
> > would require an SC decision, as it would make gcc incompatible with
> > everything else.
> 
> The SC cannot force people to submit patches to fix the problem;
> building in the source directory has been at least partially broken
> for years.

The SC decision is "do we *want* to support building in srcdir, or
should we reject such attempts?"  Once we know what the SC wants, we
can find someone to make the changes (probably me).

There are a few of us who actively fix build-in-src bugs, mostly
because we feel it's important to act like other GNU packages, but we
can stop feeling that way if the SC deems it so.

> I don't think that this is an SC matter.  The SC only has the power to
> say no (as in demanding that a patch that breaks functionality not
> be accepted), likewise the RM. 

I think it's appropriate for the SC to get past the political issue of
*wanting* to support it or not.  It's somewhat controversial (based on
historical arguments about it) whether the effort spent on maintaining
it is worth it.

Last time I worked on it, I think there was one libfoo directory that
still needed a tweak; libiberty builds in srcdir just fine, and only
directories that get built more than once are of concern anyway.