[jira] Commented: (XERCESC-1069) configure gcc 64-bit on solaris fails

["Bugger It (JIRA)" <xe...@xml.apache.org>]

    [ https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/XERCESC-1069?page=com.atlassian.jira.plugin.system.issuetabpanels:comment-tabpanel&focusedCommentId=12623586#action_12623586 ] 

Bugger It commented on XERCESC-1069:
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I hit this same problem with Xerces C 2.7.0, but not with 2.8.0. I haven't tried Xerces C 3.0.
I'm using GCC 4.2.3 on sparc-sun-solaris2.9, building an LP64 Xerces lib, and building using:

In 2.7.0, the 'runConfigure' script attempts to guess the set of options that should be passed to the C compiler to create LP64 executables.
It may guess correctly some of the time, but at least in my case above, it guesses wrongly on two counts:
- It adds the unsupported option '-xarch' to GCC command lines, as well as to Sun Studio cc command lines (where it would be supported); and
- It fails to add the required flag '-m64' when building with newer versions of GCC that support this flag, and require it for LP64 builds.
But we mustn't pass -m64 to older GCCs, which need a different option that I forget.

I claim this script should not guess at all. GNU autoconf exists specifically to avoid this type of guesswork, and Xerces C 2.7.0 already uses autoconf. So why are we guessing in shell?

As far as I can see, the most correct fix would be to remove the guesswork about CFLAGS from 'runConfigure', and replace it with autoconf M4 macros to programmatically discover the set of options which, when passed to whatever C compiler(s) are in use, causes them to output working LP64 executables. Correctness could be tested by confirming that the binary works, and that 'file <binary>' outputs a string containing '64'. I hope that version 3.0 does something like this.

I am sure there will be existing M4 macros to do this, but I don't see them in the Xerces C 2.7.0 source, so I don't see an easy way for me to implement this.

So all I have done is removed all knowledge of the variable CFLAGS from the script 'runConfigure', and am setting all the necessary values using runConfigure's switches for this, as a previous poster is in the case of the -m64 options. Ie, remove this broken functionality from the build scripts, and then do it all yourself.

I cannot see any reason at all for the existence of this 'runConfigure' crock, and several reasons for it not to exist. I hope you've deleted this brain-damage from version 3.0.

All it does is run ./configure with some environment variables and options, some of which are anyway incorrect.
Why does the documentation recommend to use this pointless and broken 'runConfigure' wrapper?
What is wrong with just doing ./configure ; make ; make install in the normal way that almost every other FLOSS package uses?
Is this an attempt to improve usability for novice system administrators, at cost of everyone else?

And why on earth do you hide the generated compiler command lines?
Is this an attempt to hide 'scary technical things' such as compiler command lines from novice sysadmins?
What would be the point of that? How will they learn if you hide everything from them?

It seems to me that you are trying to make the process of building your software from source code so easy that ignorant/novice system administrators, who should never be performing any such task in the first place, can do it. But aren't pre-compiled binaries for exactly this type of person?

If a human cannot handle compiler command lines, (s)he probably can't handle XML either. So (s)he has no use for your software.
If you make your build process idiot-proof, Nature will simply create a better idiot. You can't win, and you shouldn't waste time trying.

> configure gcc 64-bit on solaris fails
> -------------------------------------
>
>                 Key: XERCESC-1069
>                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/XERCESC-1069
>             Project: Xerces-C++
>          Issue Type: Bug
>          Components: Build
>    Affects Versions: 2.3.0
>         Environment: Operating System: Other
> Platform: Other
>            Reporter: John Ky
>            Assignee: Xerces-C Developers Mailing List
>
> When:
> ./runConfigure -p$OSTYPE -cgcc -xg++ -minmem -nsocket -tnative -rpthread -b 64
> The configure script fails on Solaris 9 fails because it uses the
> compiler/linker options -xarch=v9 instead of -m64 -mcpu=v9.
> gcc has no such command line options.
> It is possible to use runConfigure with the following options instead:
> ./runConfigure -p$OSTYPE -cgcc -xg++ -minmem -nsocket -tnative -rpthread -l
> "-m64" -l "-mcpu=v9" -z "-m64" -z "-mcpu=v9"

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