build tree references in installed .la file (was: libtool installation problem)

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Bob,

* Bob Friesenhahn wrote on Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 03:57:14PM CET:
> On Wed, 23 Mar 2005, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> >* Ambarish Mitra wrote on Wed, Mar 23, 2005 at 07:29:00AM CET:
> >>
> >>The libstdc++.la has dependencies as:
> >>dependency_libs=' 
> >>-L/usr2/SOURCES/S8/gcc-3.3/objdir/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/libstdc++-v3/src 
> >>-L/usr2/SOURCES/S8/gcc-3.3/objdir/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/libstdc++-v3/src/.libs
> >> -lm -lm -lm -L/usr2/SOURCES/S8/gcc-3.3/objdir/gcc 
> >>-L/usr/local/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/bin -L/usr/local/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/lib 
> >>-L/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/../../../sparc-sun-solaris2.8/lib
> >> -L/usr/ccs/bin -L/usr/ccs/lib 
> >>-L/usr/local/lib/gcc-lib/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/../..  -lgcc_s -lgcc_s -lm 
> >>-lgcc_s -lgcc_s'
> >
> >OK.  So this is a broken installation as well.
> 
> "Broken" installations of GCC which depend on the uninstalled build 
> directory are "normal".  I recall submitting a GCC bug report some 
> time ago regarding this issue.  While it seems like a serious issue to 
> me, it has persisted across many GCC releases.

Yes, it is[1].  Potentially a security one, too, as many people build
in /tmp and then _do_ remove their build tree.

If I had time, I would look into this issue.  But digging into an old
and modified Libtool is not something I start doing on a free night.

My first idea was -- to admit defeat in a way -- to add a Libtool option
  --weed-path /some/path
which would remove any references to the directory tree under /some/path 
for installed .la files.  An obvious candidate for this path would be
$top_builddir.

But hey -- that doesn't work!  I mean, it gives you broken .la files in
general.  In a similar scenario, you'd pick up, say, /usr/lib/libgcc_s,
where you actually want to pick up
/usr/local/sparc-sun-solaris2.8/lib/libgcc_s.

I wonder whether creating a libtool .la file for libgcc/libgcc_s (and,
if necessary, any other non-libtool-created libraries in the gcc tree)
would solve the matter, or whether it would need reconfiguring libtool
with the just-installed compiler (or even more than that).

Regards,
Ralf

[1] http://gcc.gnu.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=5291