Re: libidn-1.33 fails to build library when some doc tools are missing

[Tim Rühsen]

On 01/05/2018 01:21 PM, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
> On Fri, Jan 5, 2018 at 7:19 AM, Tim Rühsen <address@hidden> wrote:
>> On 01/05/2018 12:45 PM, Jeffrey Walton wrote:
>>> I'm trying to build libidn to use with Wget. As far as I know Wget
>>> does not require man pages. Wget will build just fine without them.
>>>
>>> Building libidn-1.33 results in:
>>>
>>> make[4]: Entering directory '/home/scripts/libidn-1.33/doc'
>>> /bin/bash /home/scripts/libidn-1.33/build-aux/missing help2man \
>>>         --name="Internationalized Domain Names command line tool" \
>>>         --output=idn.1 ../src/idn
>>> /home/scripts/libidn-1.33/build-aux/missing: line 81: help2man:
>>> command not found
>>> WARNING: 'help2man' is missing on your system.
>>>          You should only need it if you modified a dependency of a man page.
>>>          You may want to install the GNU Help2man package:
>>>          <http://www.gnu.org/software/help2man/>
>>> Makefile:2209: recipe for target 'idn.1' failed
>>>
>>> Perhaps it would be a good idea to to avoid docs when tools are not present.
>>
>> Thanks, but that seems to be a bad idea. As the text says
>> "You should only need it if you modified a dependency of a man page."
>>
>> So if you are 'developer', you just install all dependencies.
> 
> That's not your decision to make. It is my decision.

Sorry if I wasn't clear. I was talking about facts, not decisions. Of
course you decide what you want. But as a developer you should install
all dependencies - or nobody can/will help you.

>> Just continuing is bad for all (package) maintainers as they might fell
>> over half-baken packages/installations much later (e.g. when users
>> complain).
> 
> Provide a configure option. I am happy to use it.
>
>> If you are 'user' (unpack tarball, ./configure, make, make install), you
>> shouldn't need help2man since you don't start editing files that require
>> a (developer) rebuild. That's one of the ideas of a tarball.
> 
> I'd love to, but I don't have the luxury of using the latest Autotools.

A build from the tarball doesn't need the latest autotools.

Regards, Tim

signature.asc
Description: OpenPGP digital signature