Re: install-local target?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Karl,

* Karl Berry wrote on Sat, Apr 18, 2009 at 08:57:36PM CEST:
>     - It isn't clear to me what should happen if the user typed
>       make install-data
>     or
>       make install-exec
>     only.  Letting the hook run after one of them only seems clearly wrong.
> 
> Yes, that would be wrong.
> 
>     Not running it at all would require some sort of `post-install' target
> 
> Sorry, I don't understand all these complications.  I didn't intend you
> to go down any of those roads.  I was thinking of something simple:
> 
> install: install-data install-exec
>       $(MAKE) install-hook
> 
> Or it could be a variable:
> 
> install: install-data install-exec
>       $(POST_INSTALL_HOOK)

I understand.  But then you were no better off than you are now, in that
you still need to specifically document something like this for users of
your package:

  If you choose to split installation of data and executables with
  `make install-data' and `make install-exec', then after installation
  has been completed, you also need to run `make install-hook' in order
  to finish some post-installation actions.


BTW, I have another question: is it possible for your package to just
use the uninstalled programs for this post-installation action, and hook
things into install-data-hook?  Also, what does your current workaround
do if the user uses $(DESTDIR) at `make install' time, or overwrites
prefix (as in `make install prefix=/tmp/dest') temporarily?

I'm sorry for exposing you to all these complications, but I would like
to get a feeling for how important and realistic an example this is.
We shouldn't add to the Automake API without good need.

>     Can you work around it (or have already done so) 
> 
> I worked around it by adding the rules to a different top-level target
> ("world"), which my TeX builders are accustomed to using anyway.  This
> is suboptimal.

Agreed.

>     by simply adding
>     install-{data,exec}-local 
> 
> I don't see how I can use install-{data,exec}-local to accomplish this.
> The command has to run once, after both install-data and install-exec
> have finished.

> It's certainly not the end of the world if it seems too complicated to
> you for any reason.

Hehe, yes, we can still go down the road of doing nothing, if we cannot
find a better way.  ;-)

Cheers,
Ralf