Using autoconf-lib-link outside gettext

[Hrvoje Niksic]

Hello!

GNU Wget is using libtool to correctly link in non-system shared
libraries.  While libtool has its benefits for building libraries, it
is not very appropriate for merely linking with them -- it increases
the archive size, requires frequent updates of libtool sources, bloats
configure with unnecessary checks for things like nm output and
FORTRAN 77/90/95 compilers (!).  Yet there seemed to be no other way
to portably handle rpath -- until the emergence of AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS.

I understand that the `autoconf-lib-link' subdirectory of the gettext
distribution contains the infrastructure needed to use
AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS in a separate program.  But there seem to be no
instructions on how to integrate this directory with an existing
program that uses Autoconf.

Am I missing something?


P.S.
Is there any news on the option of integrating these macros into
Autoconf?  In the 2002 thread at http://tinyurl.com/dyjfo the
consensus seemed to be that AC_LIB_LINKFLAGS *should* be integrated.
Akim Demaille agreed as well.  What went wrong?