Re: [Groff] Re: Problem with grohtml on Win32

[Keith Marshall]

Hi Gaius,

> > Ok.  The only issue I have with this is that the name stored in DESC
> > is applicable *only* for the build host -- if the runtime host is not
> > the same, and uses a different name for the ghostscript executable,
> > then the name stored in DESC is potentially misleading.
>
> Hi Keith,
>
> so, what to do about this.. hmm. We could either force cross
> compilation to use your --with-gs=PROG switch and retain this
> value in DESC or remove it all together from DESC and ..
>
> > Provided pre-grohtml tries *all* well known names for the image
> > generator at *runtime*, then the appearance of the configured name in
> > DESC will not cause any real problem, but what value does it have?
>
> try all well known names at runtime - as you say. Maybe the --with-gs
> value could be prepended to this well known list.. perhaps the
> --with-gs could itself be a list of preferred gs names..
>
> Which solution do you favour? Are there better alternatives?

I don't strongly favour any one solution over another.  I can certainly see 
merit in the concept of passing information from the configure process to the 
runtime environment through the DESC file.  However, including path 
information which is *automatically* deduced by configure is probably a bad 
idea -- it certainly breaks the build process on Win32, when using the 
MinGW/MSYS tools, for the reasons I have explained previously.

Perhaps the most practical solution would be to specify a *list* of known 
names for the ghostscript executable, or any other suitable image generator, 
in the DESC file, and have pre-grohtml search for each in turn, *at runtime*, 
until it finds one it can use, giving up on image generation only if none can 
be found.  This list should include all of the well known names for the 
ghostscript executable, augmented by any alternative name, or possibly a list 
of names, specified with a '--with-gs=NAME' or '--with-gs=LIST' option to 
'configure';  ideally any such explicit list should be searched first.

In order to give pre-grohtml the best possible opportunity to find an image 
generator, I think the default list of names to be searched should *not* 
include any explicit path information;  this will allow pre-grohtml to find 
an image generator program, if one is present at *any* location in the 
runtime PATH.  Of course, an image generator name *explicitly* specified with 
'--with-gs=...' *could* include path information;  we must assume that any 
user specifying this knows what he or she is doing, and we should not 
override that choice :-)

Obviously, this is my opinion only, but I hope it is helpful.

Best regards,
Keith.