New FreeBSD package system (a.k.a. Daemon Package System (dps))

[Dag-Erling Smørgrav]

Kris Kennaway <kris at obsecurity.org> writes:
> On Fri, May 11, 2007 at 10:33:29AM +0200, Dag-Erling Sm??rgrav wrote:
> > The existence of .la files is a bug.
> >
> > We already have a mechanism for recording dependencies between
> > libraries; it's built into the ELF format, and does not require
> > hardcoding any directories.  Introducing .la files which override the
> > existing mechanism and *do* hardcode directories is a regression.
> >
> > I don't buy the argument that "KDE won't build without them", or
> > whatever it was you used to justify this.
> I can't help it that you weren't paying attention.

My point is that the argument is bogus.  I am positively certain that
the root issue was not the absence of .la files; installing them merely
served as a workaround for the actual problem, which was most likely
related to ldconfig and / or LD_LIBRARY_PATH.

This is like the (apocryphal) story of the car that wouldn't start on
the way back from the store when the owner went to buy ice cream - but
only if he bought vanilla.  The correct fix is not to buy a different
flavor.  Once you realize that the vanilla ice cream is right next to
the check-out register while the others are deeper within the store and
therefore take considerably longer to get, you start looking for vapor
lock.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav - des at des.no