Re: troubles compiling mailutils

[xystrus]

On Thu, Apr 04, 2002 at 06:13:55PM -0800, Jeff Bailey wrote:
> > The GNU project has, as its stated goal, the ability to replace
> > proprietary Unix software on as many platforms as possible.
> 
> I refer you to http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards_27.html#SEC27

I can only assume that you're providing this to rebutt what I said above,
but I see nothing contradictory in it.  In fact, the very first paragraph:

  "In the Unix world, "portability" refers to porting to different Unix
  versions. For a GNU program, this kind of portability is desirable..."

This seems a clear statement that portability IS a goal.  And yes, it does
continue to say it isn't paramount, which does not contradict the idea that
portability is a goal.

Furthermore, the original poster was trying to compile on Red Hat Linux.
The document you site goes on to say:

  "So the kinds of portability that are absolutely necessary are quite
  limited. But it is important to support Linux-based GNU systems, since
  they are the form of GNU that is popular."

It seems abundantly clear that Red Hat 6.2, being what rms would call a
"Linux-based GNU system" (though I entirely disagree with both his
nomenclature and his reasoning for it), is specifically an important system
to support.

Ok ok, I like to argue a little too much maybe...  :)

> While I go out of my way to make sure that my projects run on as many
> platforms as possible, I don't go out of my way to help people on any
> platform compile prerelease software from CVS.

Point taken, and fair enough.  But I do still think that a proper configure
should be checked in as necessary.  From a practical standpoint, it likely
will eliminate future instances of such posts.

Xy