[sac-dev] Patch to make our build system support VPATH builds

[Kuang He]

Hi, all

VPATH builds [1] are preferred by some people for the following reasons:

   1. They prevent the build process form cluttering your source
directory with all sorts of build files.
   2. To remove a build, all you have to do is remove the build directory.
   3. You can build the same source multiple times using different
options. This is very useful if you would like to write a script that
will run the test suite for a package while the package is configured
in many different ways (e.g. different features, different compiler
optimization, and so on). It is also useful if you would like to do
the same with releasing binary distributions of the source.

Well, I think this is very desirable, since with VPATH, we can test
building from SAC's source code using different parameters, e.g.
--enable-debug, --enable-readline, --disable-editline
--disable-readline.

I made some effort to make this happen, and the patch is attached. It
is not a big patch anyways. I tested using a few different
combinations of parameters during the ./configure stage, and also in
different directories (e.g. the subdirectory of the source tree, the
parent directory of the source tree, a completely different and deep
directory elsewhere). Everything works OK for me.

[1] http://autotoolset.sourceforge.net/tutorial.html#SEC8

    Explanation of what a `VPATH build' is:

    In a VPATH build, the source distribution is stored in a, possibly
    read-only, directory, and the actual building takes place in a
    different directory where all the generated files are being
    stored. We call the first directory, the source tree, and the
    second directory the build tree. The build tree may be a
    subdirectory of the source tree, but it is better if it is a
    completely separate directory.


Best regards,

-- 
Kuang He
Department of Physics
University of Connecticut
Storrs, CT 06269-3046

Tel: +1.860.486.4919
Web: http://www.phys.uconn.edu/~he/
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: vpath-patch.diff
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 5510 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://www.iris.washington.edu/pipermail/sac-dev/attachments/20081001/a4de6032/attachment.obj>