[9fans] origins of configure

[arnold@skeeve.com]

So, the history is more than this.

Larry Wall's Configure (capital C) for rn and Perl was the first step
at a shell script to examine system features and generate a config.h.
It was inspirational for autoconf, but autoconf doesn't use any of
its code, as far as I know.

Autoconf was designed to solve real portability problems. In the late 80s
and early 90s there was a huge variety of Unix systems and it was really
hard to know what was available and what wasn't based on simple ifdefs.
The variations were bigger than Erik makes out.

Today, the scale of the problem is reduced, since we have POSIX and
also fewer systems out there. Much of the bloat in the Autotools is
from legacy. But there are still very real portability issues, especially
among some of the fringe *BSD systems. MirBSD in particular is one of
the worst, but that's another rant.

If one were to start over today, one could likely arrive at a simpler
system, but portability problems remain, and they are real.

Arnold


erik quanstrom <quanstro@quanstro.net> wrote:

> confirmed.  it's existence is due to early gnu programs fighting with
> small variations in unix and compilers.  byron's rc used a small script
> to the same effect.  but for the most part, this all could be avoided
> with careful planning and not using esoteric functions.
>
> gcc also had its own configuration step.  the header rewriting is a vestage of this system.
>
> - erik
>
>
> On Jul 9, 2015 05:31, Jeff Sickel <jas@corpus-callosum.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > On Jul 9, 2015, at 5:19 AM, Steve Simon <steve@quintile.net> wrote: 
> > > 
> > > FWIW: fgb did a stirling script called config which sets up some 
> > > environment and runs configure under ape. It doesn't always work but often gets close 
> > > to generating a config.h as linux intended. 
> >
> > Configure predates Linux.  That, or my memory of using it to bang my head against the perl wall in the 1980s damaged the register. 
> >
> > -jas 
> >
> > … at least you’re not using Xenix 
> >
> >
> >
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> confirmed.  it's existence is due to early gnu programs fighting with small variations in unix and compilers.  byron's rc used a small script to the same effect.  but for the most part, this all could be avoided with careful planning and not using esoteric functions.  
>
> gcc also had its own configuration step.  the header rewriting is a vestage of this system.
>
> - erik
>
>
> On Jul 9, 2015 05:31, Jeff Sickel <jas@corpus-callosum.com> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > On Jul 9, 2015, at 5:19 AM, Steve Simon <steve@quintile.net> wrote: 
> > > 
> > > FWIW: fgb did a stirling script called config which sets up some 
> > > environment and runs configure under ape. It doesn't always work but often gets close 
> > > to generating a config.h as linux intended. 
> >
> > Configure predates Linux.  That, or my memory of using it to bang my head against the perl wall in the 1980s damaged the register. 
> >
> > -jas 
> >
> > … at least you’re not using Xenix 
> >
> >
> >
>