./configure variations

[alex]

>In most cases the software you are looking for is probably already
>availible in Ubuntu without having to compile anything. At any rate,
>  
>
I was trying to install Prozilla-2.0-cvs-19-9-2005 which doesn't seem to 
be available
except as a tarball.

>that is not your question...
>
>  
>
>>Does anyone know of any documentation that really explains those special
>>cases where
>>./configure needs a little help?
>>    
>>
>
>./configure is a script that you run which sets up various software
>compile time options. These options usually dictate which components
>will get compiled and where they should be installed.
>  
>
I've never seen specific instructions for which  ./configure options to 
use.   They seem to be generic enough to be useless.

>Usually with most source code you can just ./configure
>
and that makes it a pleasure to install the package.

> and by default
>the default options will be compiled and installed into /usr/local. If
>you, for example you want to change this install location you set
>--prefix=/some/path. There are some common options such as --prefix,
>--mandir, etc... that are a defacto standards but every application is
>different and every developer is different so it is hard to find
>general documentation since each ./configure script is different. The
>only stead fast commonality is that ./configure configures compile
>time options in a standard format, i.e, --option=value. And this is
>not even *always* true.
>
>./configure --help will give you a list of possibile compile time
>options for that source code. Very often different package have
>different options, options that only that source code
>needs/understands.
>  
>
Not only the source code  needs/undersands, so does the user who is 
trying to install the package.

If only the creator would provide specific option instructions instead 
of leaving i it up to the user to puzzle out  which  ones to use..
alex

>There are not really any hard rules that dictate what options are what
>and why. If the developer of the application was kind enough to
>provide proper descriptions than ./configure --help should tell you
>what the options for the source in question are, what they do, what
>the options acceptable values are and sometimes even what the current
>defaults are.
>
>Additional resource that may help include:
>
>http://sources.redhat.com/autobook/
>http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/index.html
>
>Hope this helps,
>
>Matt
>
>  
>
>>alex
>>
>>
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>>
>>    
>>
>
>  
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