Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Why Switch a Big Software Project to autoconf?

Posted by Cliff on from the abandoning-the-custom-build-scripts dept.

woggo queries: "I'm a CS grad student working on a large research project (over 1 million lines of code, supported on many platforms). The project has been under development for several years, and the build system is nontrivial for end-users. We'd like to make it easier to build our software, and I'm investigating the feasibility of migrating to GNU autoconf. I need to demonstrate that the benefits of autoconf outweigh the costs of migrating a large system of makefiles with a lot of ad-hoc kludge-enabling logic. Has anyone made a similar case to their advisor/manager? Does anyone have some good 'autoconfiscation' war stories to share? (I've already seen the Berkeley amd story and the obvious links from a google search....)" Depending on the intricacies of the build process, such a conversion might take an awful lot of work. It might be easier to put a nicer face on the "nontrivial build process", although there is something to be said for the ease of "./configure; make; make install"

6 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. First Post by cmsnell · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fp

  2. As Pro Linux as I am.... by ras_b · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    ...there is also something to be said for double clicking 'setup.exe', then clicking 'Next' through an installer. One of the places I have always thought linux was way behind windows (especially for the new user) is with software installation. rpm -ivh?? ./configure, make, make install?? come on, you think a beginner home user will figure those out?

  3. Important! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic


    Ashcroft and Bush are trampling your rights

    1. Re:Important! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Oh, please. A visit by the Secret Service, following up on a tip that they thought was a threat against the President (and they discovered and said publically that it wasn't!), is worse than all the ruining of peoples' lives for being non-PC in the Clinton era? Give me a friggin' break.

  4. linux troll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    someone points out a flaw in linux, that needs improvement,
    you just call them a troll.

    no wonder linux sucks, linux people spend more time
    calling people stupid than they do fixing their fucking product

  5. Re:just do it by Pussy+Is+Money · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I love you and will send somebody to have your babies.

    --
    Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'