And we replace libtool with...?

Gullible Jones · 2005-09-26 00:34:02

I just took a look at the Wikipedia entry for Libtool, and I have a (probably stupid) question... Judging from the content of the Wikipedia entry, wouldn't stuff like Libtool be rather... indispensible? What's it being replaced with? Has it somehow been obsoleted? It would seem that something is missing from the Wikipedia entry...

kakabaratruskia · 2005-09-26 02:22:49

Libtool archive files are pure evil on a system managed by a package manager. They pollute the linking process of other libraries and make version upgrades of single binaries a big hell. This has been observed with much small libraries with only a few dependencies, but it would hit bigger packages like gtk2 in the future. Since all major distributions are already removing these files whenever possible, now is the time to do it on archlinux too.

Gullible Jones · 2005-09-26 02:24:43

Yes, I get the idea there. I know why we're removing libtool. It would also seem that libtool has a purpose, and I'd like to know what replaces it to serve said purpose?

kakabaratruskia · 2005-09-26 02:26:44

m... you're right... don't know really what can replace it.

phrakture · 2005-09-26 15:05:57

Gullible Jones wrote:

Yes, I get the idea there. I know why we're removing libtool. It would also seem that libtool has a purpose, and I'd like to know what replaces it to serve said purpose?

We don't need libtool - just because something is being removed, doesn't imply it needs to be replaced (i.e. a tumor).

Libtool only exists to help build packages. It has nothing to do with running a program. Libtool helps a program determine what library it needs to link to and when, and all that other stuff.

Gullible Jones · 2005-09-26 19:08:01

So, how will this affect software development on Arch Linux?

phrakture · 2005-09-26 19:25:31

Gullible Jones wrote:

So, how will this affect software development on Arch Linux?

It won't - seriously, if you don't know what libtool is, then your fine. No one ever used libtool by accident. Even then it would only affect fully autotooled projects, of which there aren't alot anymore.

Also, libtool can fail happily. No one's saying "don't use libtool", we are no longer distributing thew .la/.lo files created by libtool. This is fine. Libtool expects this when it's run... it has a "plan B" built in.

Why all these questions about libtool? You would think that Judd and all the devs have thought this through.

Gullible Jones · 2005-09-26 19:53:52

Sorry if this is getting on your nerves... I was just wondering how this change would impact me. Thanks for the info.

Arch Linux

#1 2005-09-26 00:34:02

And we replace libtool with...?

#2 2005-09-26 02:22:49

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#3 2005-09-26 02:24:43

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#4 2005-09-26 02:26:44

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#5 2005-09-26 15:05:57

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#6 2005-09-26 19:08:01

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#7 2005-09-26 19:25:31

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

#8 2005-09-26 19:53:52

Re: And we replace libtool with...?

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