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by varjag
410 days ago
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> A good way to make sure your project won't cross compile is to use Autoconf. Yeah well this is not quite true. Most embedded distros leverage autotools heavily. In Yocto you just specify autotools as the package class for the recipe and in most cases it will pull, cross compile and package the piece of software for you with no intervention. The tools are clearly antiquated, written in a questionable taste and 80% of the cases they solve are no longer relevant. They are still very useful for the rest. |
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Sure, Autotools can do this and that ... given a significantly large and busy crew of downstream packagers who compensate for this and that in their distros.
It's a lame horse that needs to be buried.
The main thing that's wrong with Autotools perhaps is that it is shielded from fixes. Autotools makes a cockery of a project's configuration, and then downstreams concentrate on fixing the cockery to get that project working right. The fixes do not go back to Autotools!
There is already very little feedback between distros and upstream projects. Most of the time distros fix things silently, get things working and never contact upstream. (I've often learned of build issues in my projects by browsing downstream issues and discussions. They do not contact you! I would patch their problem. Then check a month later after a release and yup, "patch no longer applies; upstream fixed this; issue closed").
And now Autotools is one more hop behind upstream! Most people causing problems with Autotools will never be contacted, and those that are will never fix/improve or at least report anything in Autotools. If they do, they will probably just be told they are using Autotools wrong, go away.
Thus the Autotools project is blissfully oblivious to the idea that it might be a problem. Like an elephant in the room that is lying on your sofa, sipping a margarita and watching TV.