Re: Using Perl's cc

[Karl Berry]

    Failing that it is probably possible to fall back to the existing Perl
    modules. I don't much like the idea of having to maintain two modules
    in parallel, one in C, one in Perl, which may have subtly different
    behaviour, but it may be unavoidable.

I feel certain it is unavoidable.  I had never contemplated the idea
that the xs version would be *required*.  I believe that would make
makeinfo unusable in far too many situations.  It is critical that
texinfo, like any GNU package, not require a "distro" to work.

Furthermore, I think the code must automatically and silently fall back
*at runtime* if the compiled version does not work for whatever reason.
(Including all Windows-based systems, where I feel strongly that any
attempt to make the xs work, even if possible in some limited scenarios,
is not worth the time, effort, and complications.)

Also, I don't think the details of this-or-that approach to xs matter.
I don't doubt that some are better than others, some will work on more
systems, but using xs is inherently fraught and will fail in some
situations that work now.  Therefore I think the program must fall back
to Perl when the xs does not work.

If you disagree, I understand, but that is my feeling.

k