[Mageia-dev] [RFC] Removing .la files

Fri Jun 10 17:09:51 CEST 2011

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 04:35:57PM +0200, Christiaan Welvaart wrote:
+> On Fri, 10 Jun 2011, Olav Vitters wrote:
+> 
+> >On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 04:15:01PM +0200, Christiaan Welvaart wrote:
+> >>>https://live.gnome.org/GnomeShell/RemovingLaFiles
+> >>
+> >>"... but the dirty hacks that jhbuild plays ..."
+> >>
+> >>Problems with dirty hacks are NOT a valid reason to remove libtool
+> >>convenience libraries aka .la files.
+> >
+> >Seems you skipped the initial bit, where it explains that the .la has
+> >the full path.
+> 
+> What's wrong with those paths? I'm saying the problem is in
+> gnome-shell, not in the .la files.
+
+You snipped the paragraph which explains it.
+
+To repeat: If you link against 1 system lib, the .la files will make it
+link to /usr/lib stuff, instead of the self compiled gtk or anything
+like that. If the .la does not exist (all of them), it links correctly.
+
+> >>>Seems some distributions misunderstand the need and changed the wiki
+> >>>page. Removing .la files is needed however, otherwise you'll quickly mix
+> >>>distribution installed libraries and self-compiled libraries.
+> >>
+> >>What are you talking about here?
+> 
+> <gnome-shell stuff>
+
+It is not gnome-shell, it is jhbuild and doing development (mainly
+GNOME). Basic GNOME already has ~200 modules.
+
+> So you are really talking only about gnome-shell, which I can't even
+> test because apparently it doesn't work in a VM. It is now packaged,
+> so you don't need to build it.
+
+Nope, I'm talking about doing development using jhbuild. E.g. if you
+want to contribute to GNOME, you'll have to get rid of all the .la
+files no matter which distribution you use.
+
+A new GNOME does not happen automatically. It requires people to compile
+the Git versions and committing stuff until a tarball is released and
+packaged.
+
+Making such development easier would result in a better GNOME, and I
+don't mind if the .la files stay, but prefer if they are removed.
+
+Jhbuild is also used by Wayland and Hildon btw.
+-- 
+Regards,
+Olav
+