bug#70071: [FR] Provide official install scripts without requiring root, e.g., by making a static build possible

[Rudi C]

I just tried installing emacs yet again on a system. I used this script:

```

(
export PS4='> '
setopt PIPE_FAIL PRINT_EXIT_VALUE ERR_RETURN SOURCE_TRACE XTRACE
##
if test -n "${commands[brew]}" ; then
    export PATH="$(perl -e 'print join(":", grep { index($_, "'"$(brew --prefix)"'") == -1 } split(/:/, $ENV{PATH}))')"
fi
##
prefix_dir=~/emacs_ins
mkdir -p "${prefix_dir}"

cores_used=2
# url="" href="https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/snapshot/emacs-c6cb6d8506916dd1c17fba2d24ec63426c4afdbd.tar.gz">https://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/snapshot/emacs-c6cb6d8506916dd1c17fba2d24ec63426c4afdbd.tar.gz'
url="" href="https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-29.3.tar.gz">https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-29.3.tar.gz'


rm -rf ~/code/emacs_ins
mkdir -p ~/code/emacs_ins
cd ~/code/emacs_ins

wget "$url"
mkdir -p emacs
tar xvzf emacs-*.tar.gz -C emacs --strip-components=1
#: You can use the `-C` option of the `tar` command to specify the directory where you want to extract the files. The `--strip-components=1` option will remove the top-level directory from the archive, so that the files are extracted directly into the `emacs` directory.

cd emacs

mkdir build && cd build

config_opts=(
 --with-x-toolkit=no
 
 --with-xpm=ifavailable
 --with-jpeg=ifavailable
 --with-gif=ifavailable
 --with-tiff=ifavailable
 --with-gnutls=ifavailable
)
../configure --prefix="${prefix_dir}" "${config_opts[@]}"
make -j"${cores_used}"
make -j"${cores_used}" install
)

```

I get this error (and this is after adding all those configure options which had previously caused errors):

```
checking for library containing tputs... no
configure: error: The required function 'tputs' was not found in any library.
The following libraries were tried (in order):
  libtinfo, libncurses, libterminfo, libcurses, libtermcap
Please try installing whichever of these libraries is most appropriate
for your system, together with its header files.
For example, a libncurses-dev(el) or similar package.
```

So what should I do now? 

On Sat, Mar 30, 2024 at 4:49 AM Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> wrote:

Rudi C <rudiwillalwaysloveyou@gmail.com> writes:

> My primary concern with your approach is that it requires numerous
> manual steps, each of which can introduce new points of failure.
> Would it be possible for you to provide a single script that I can run
> on Ubuntu (even on older versions with an outdated gcc, etc.) that
> will build Emacs under my home directory (~/)?

Emacs supports "older operating systems" with "outdated GCC" (back to
3.4.x) quite well, so I fail to see what the difficulty is with the
following two-liner:

  ./configure --prefix=$HOME
  make -j `nproc` install

which has been standard among autoconf-using programs since time
immemorial, if not earlier.

> While I don't claim to have a deep understanding of these terms, my
> interpretation is that dynamic linking connects to the installed
> system libraries, making the binary heavily reliant on the specific
> conditions of its host operating system.

This is not true or important, when two lines and a set of basic
development packages available on any self-respecting GNU/Linux
distribution should provide through their package repositories.

> In contrast, a statically linked binary includes all of its
> dependencies within itself, allowing a single binary for Linux x86 to
> function on most other similar systems. A "portable" binary is one
> that can be downloaded using wget and executed without relying on any
> dependencies from the host operating system. Of course, no binary can
> be completely portable, and portability exists on a spectrum. However,
> some binaries are quite portable, such as those found at
> https://github.com/Mozilla-Ocho/llamafile.

Statically linking against libc.a is inherently unreliable, but programs
dynamically linking against one specific version of the GNU C library,
and more often than not, other C libraries, will function normally on
systems with subsequent releases of the same.

In any event, volunteers are welcome to provide such binary
distributions of Emacs, but, Emacs being a portable program without
numerous elusive dependencies or non-standard build systems, I very much
doubt the game will be worth the candle.