OS Configuration suggestion

[David Reid <dr...@jetnet.co.uk>]

In discussions with Manoj I came across the current problem with configuring
for non-Unix platforms.

Essentially there is no need for a non-Unix platform to do the pthreads
library check.  This applies in a number of places and in a number of ways.
What we all want is a simple efficient configuration system that keeps
maintenance to a minimum.  Thus I propose that we have a config file per OS
directory that has ALL the platform specific details.  This should be
possible and by using common names and common functions but only including a
single os file we should be able to have everything we want.

The advantages are that obviously the basic configuration file becomes much
smaller and much more manageable, the os specific parts are all separate and
so finding problems should be much easier and when updating for a particular
os there is less chance of something else being altered inadvertently.

The fact is that having defaults for every MPM in the configuration file
seems a bit strange when the windows, os2 or beos MPM's only apply when on
one of those platforms.

If the idea is seen as possible I'll have a crack at getting the basics
working but if that's the case then where does the code need to be put and
how do we include the files from the os directories in a way that won't kill
the whole process?  On these matters I bow to those who know!

david