Autotools

[Steve Lee]

Willie suggested that I used autotools and while I could do that I
wanted to be sure of the reasons.

I know it gives a standardized installation method and GNOME require
it for apps it but in previous discussion with Eitan we decide the
Python distutils would be great as they are the standard for Python
(plus support Eggs) and Jambu is currently independent.

I'm not that familiar with autotools but guess they do much the same
as the old IMake, i.e. create makefiles with correct options for the
platform. I see the need for this when conditional compilation is
required by Python is platform independent to a large degree and
largely not 'built' so what else would autotools bring to the party?
Perhaps an easier path to becoming a package? What about
internationalisation?

Or perhaps I should just do it so that if I add C modules and build
options I have it covered.

Any ideas?

--
Steve Lee
--
Open Source Assistive Technology Software
web: fullmeasure.co.uk
blog: eduspaces.net/stevelee/weblog

[stephen emslie]

Distutils should handle compiling C modules too, and is pretty standard across python distribution. If gnome requires that autotools be the build-tool of choice, perhaps there is a way to hook that into distutils to cover the most ground?

Congratulations on the lastest release btw

Stephen