Re: foo-config scripts and removed .la files

[Werner LEMBERG]

>> Some foo-config scripts like freetype-config have an option
>>
>>  --libtool
>>
>> to display the library's .la file.  However, it is more and more
>> common that .la files get removed by distributions if installed in
>> /usr/lib, as you are certainly aware.
> 
> What is this information used for?  Libtool and libltdl already
> automatically search for .la files before resorting to a fallback.

Aah!  It seems to me this is undocumented in the libtool info manual.

The question is what happens for static linking.  For example, in the
FreeType case, I get the following:

  > pkg-config --libs --static freetype2
  -L/usr/local/lib -lfreetype -lz -lbz2  

  > pkg-config --libs freetype2
  -L/usr/local/lib -lfreetype  

If I specify the .la flag for `libtool --mode=link', the above two
case are properly covered...

> My primary thought would be that the person responsible for removing
> the .la files needs to take responsibility for correcting any
> consequences.

Well, yes, but in case of Mac OS X this is not so easy :-)


    Werner