Re: [Groff] Re: Problem with grohtml on Win32

[Gaius Mulley]

Keith Marshall <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi Gaius,
> 
> > > Ok.  The only issue I have with this is that the name stored in DESC
> > > is applicable *only* for the build host -- if the runtime host is not
> > > the same, and uses a different name for the ghostscript executable,
> > > then the name stored in DESC is potentially misleading.
> >
> > Hi Keith,
> >
> > so, what to do about this.. hmm. We could either force cross
> > compilation to use your --with-gs=PROG switch and retain this
> > value in DESC or remove it all together from DESC and ..
> >
> > > Provided pre-grohtml tries *all* well known names for the image
> > > generator at *runtime*, then the appearance of the configured name in
> > > DESC will not cause any real problem, but what value does it have?
> >
> > try all well known names at runtime - as you say. Maybe the --with-gs
> > value could be prepended to this well known list.. perhaps the
> > --with-gs could itself be a list of preferred gs names..
> >
> > Which solution do you favour? Are there better alternatives?
> 
> I don't strongly favour any one solution over another.  I can certainly see 
> merit in the concept of passing information from the configure process to the 
> runtime environment through the DESC file.  However, including path 
> information which is *automatically* deduced by configure is probably a bad 
> idea -- it certainly breaks the build process on Win32, when using the 
> MinGW/MSYS tools, for the reasons I have explained previously.
> 
> Perhaps the most practical solution would be to specify a *list* of known 
> names for the ghostscript executable, or any other suitable image generator, 
> in the DESC file, and have pre-grohtml search for each in turn, *at runtime*, 
> until it finds one it can use, giving up on image generation only if none can 
> be found.  This list should include all of the well known names for the 
> ghostscript executable, augmented by any alternative name, or possibly a list 
> of names, specified with a '--with-gs=NAME' or '--with-gs=LIST' option to 
> 'configure';  ideally any such explicit list should be searched first.
> 
> In order to give pre-grohtml the best possible opportunity to find an image 
> generator, I think the default list of names to be searched should *not* 
> include any explicit path information;  this will allow pre-grohtml to find 
> an image generator program, if one is present at *any* location in the 
> runtime PATH.  Of course, an image generator name *explicitly* specified with 
> '--with-gs=...' *could* include path information;  we must assume that any 
> user specifying this knows what he or she is doing, and we should not 
> override that choice :-)
> 
> Obviously, this is my opinion only, but I hope it is helpful.

Hi Keith,

yes this sounds, imho, a very reasonable solution - it solves the
cross build, native build and different `gs' named executable problems
together - whilst still honouring the DESC file and configure.  It
also logically tackles the thorny PATH problem (giving choice where
possible). In fact I like it a lot :-)

Have a good holiday, and greetings of the season to everybody,

Gaius