[Python-Dev] New autoconf in use!

[Guido van Rossum]

>     >> The other issue is caching: autoconf 2.50 will, by default, not
>     >> generate a config.cache, since that has caused too many problems.
> 
>     Guido> Leave it as it is unless there are many complaints.
> 
> Agreed.  Most machines are fast enough nowadays that the absence of
> config.cache isn't a major stumbling block.  If they are that
> sensitive to the performance reduction, they can install autoconf
> themselves and generate a local version of the configure script.

Here's another reason why it's fine to leave the cache off by default:
most people will build Python only once per directory -- they'll
download a version, run ./configure, make, and make install.  For
them, the cache doesn't help at all.  The people for whom it matters
are developers using CVS, who need to run configure frequently
(e.g. each time a new configure script is checked in).  Those people
know what they're doing and can do the -C thing if they find it too
slow.

Personally, I usually do "./configure; make test" in one window and
continue deleting email in another. ;-)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)