Re: [RFC] Remove tcl/tk/itcl/itk dependencies from Makefile.in

[Keith Seitz <keiths@redhat.com>]

On Thu, 2003-02-06 at 19:23, Christopher Faylor wrote:

> Anyway, I've managed to build a version of gdb by removing TCL_DEPS,
> TK_DEPS, ITCL_DEPS, and ITK_DEPS from the Makefile and I can kludge
> something for my cygwin build system so that I can make this automatic.
> I was just wondering if anyone would mind eliminating these
> dependencies.

You've built insight using "standard", installed versions of Tcl, Tk,
Itcl? THAT'S WONDERFUL!

> So, the question is: Is it ok to remove the tcl/tk/itcl/itk *_DEPS files
> from the gdb Makefile?  This would also be a step in the direction of
> allowing insight to be built from system tcl/tk libraries.

Well, here's the idea I had in mind... We would like to support two
building methodologies. One where we are using the tcl, tk, etc from the
build tree and one where we use the installed versions.

If we're building with the installed versions, there should be no
dependency (obviously). If we're building tcl et al, then we should have
the dependency.

I believe that this can be done easily enough. My rough outline of the
process looks something like: if --with-*config and it exists, use it.
If not, assume build tree. If --with-tclconfig was specified and it
exists, use that directory to search for *config.sh, too. Same for
--with-tcl-headers and --with-tcl-library. I think this is what the
likes of BLT use, and it seems a reasonable (if lengthy) approach.

Of course, as you observe, there is a ton of hacking to do at gdb's m4
files. I was actually planning to do this some day, when I get back to
finishing the gdb/Insight split and we have our own configury and
Makefiles, but, well, that never seems to happen. I know.. I'm a bad
maintainer.

Anyway, not to discourage, I think that I would check if I could find a
suitable Tcl, Tk, etc in the build tree and then set TCL_DEPS and
TK_DEPS accordingly, even if the --with-* stuff isn't in yet.

Does this sound like a reasonably way to inch forward?
Keith