Re: [RFC] Add expat to the GDB sources

Christopher Faylor
2006-07-31T20:39:16Z

On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 04:24:22PM -0400, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
>On Mon, Jul 31, 2006 at 01:33:12PM -0400, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
>>As for optional versus required, I don't think there's a relevant FSF
>>position. However, I very much wanted to use the XML target
>>descriptions in some cases to replace the C-coded ones. So obviously I
>>prefer to require expat.
>
>Which yields this patch.
>
>If our final decision is to make all features which require expat
>optional, I can rework this patch to only issue a warning message, and
>update the documentation accordingly. It currently:
> - Searches $prefix/lib and $prefix/include for expat, as well
> as the standard system directories.
> - Offers a documented option to find expat elsewhere.
> - Defines HAVE_LIBEXPAT in config.h.
>
>I think I've said everything useful that I can say on this subject; I
>am not sure how to proceed. The options that I see are:
>
> 1. Refuse to use external libraries.
> 2. Make external libraries optional.
> 3. Require external libraries, with moderation and documentation.
>
>Obviously I prefer 3, followed by 2.
>
>Your thoughts welcome!

FWIW, I have the same preferences. Possibly we could also monitor the
situation, and if there is too much confusion caused by 3, then look into
implementing 2.

cgf