Jamie Bullock wrote:
Well, that reminds me; I forgot to add that in cases where a Makefile is included, but no configure script, it is usually necessary to 'personalise' the Makefile manually. As IOhannes infers, there is usually an INSTALL.txt, README, or other useful instructions. If there is insufficient documentation provided to enable someone to work out the compile process, I think there are grounds to ask the developer for guidance.
i totally agree. while i have written that normally there are README, INSTALL.txt and the like around, it is a sad fact, that often they are missing.
Yes, this is a fine solution. However, I think that ad hoc solutions like this should be avoided, because by not using the developer's own build system, you are working around possible errors. Errors, which should they exist are better reported and fixed than avoided.
i totally agree too (although i am not that innocent in that respect, like when it comes to the unfixed configure in Gem (fixed in CVS but not in the last release)
mfg.adsr IOhannes