[Python-Dev] Python build trouble with the new gcc/binutils

[David Abrahams]

From: "Zack Weinberg" <zack@codesourcery.com>
To: "David Abrahams" <dave@boost-consulting.com>

> > I'm still ploughing through several days of messages here (so this may
have
> > been discussed already) but I have recently learned that despite the
> > existinence of a "-V" option, it has long been impossible to correctly
> > install new versions of GCC on systems with existing versions without
> > using --prefix= to select a unique location. Why GCC's configure
doesn't
> > issue a warning about this when you do it wrong, I don't know. The only
> > clue that this is going to be a problem was buried in a FAQ somewhere
as of
> > three months ago.
>
> I believe that this has been addressed in the current documentation --
> the INSTALL file clearly states that multiple versions shouldn't be
> installed in the same prefix, and the -V option (which never worked
> properly) has been removed.  Would you mind reading the docs shipped
> with 3.2, and reporting any remaining confusion as a bug?

The *only* place I have ever looked for documentation about how to install
was here:

http://gcc.gnu.org/install/configure.html

...and I still see nothing about this issue. There should be a prominent,
eye-catching warning about this, for people like me who have gotten used to
the procedure and have been doing it wrong for a while without knowing
better.

> (note that we're not going to add a configure check as you suggest,
> because there are conditions where it's safe, and we don't want to
> make life harder for people who really do want that.)

Optimizing for the 1% case? Seems like a bad choice to me. How much more
difficult could it be for those 1%-ers if you added a warning?

-Dave

-----------------------------------------------------------
           David Abrahams * Boost Consulting
dave@boost-consulting.com * http://www.boost-consulting.com