[tlbuild] Configure issues with texlive-20091107

[Norbert Preining]

On Sa, 09 Jan 2010, Angel Tsankov wrote:
>> Why don't oyu do it like most of the other packagers do:
>> 	- build normally and install into source/inst
>
> Is source/inst a certain path or do you mean any path?

If you use
	./Build
then everything will be installed into ./inst

>> 	- then *copy* what you need to the right places
>
> Assuming that *copy* means *move*, I am afraid this strategy could break  
> paths to the moved files.  Suppose a configuration file is installed in  
> /bla/bla/etc/config because I've configured TL with --prefix=/bla/bla or  
> with --sysconfdir=/bla/bla/etc.  Moving the config file at the end of  
> the build is essentially *lying* about its intended location -- there  
> might be a program that expects to find the file in ${sysconfdir}/config.

There is NO such program in TeX Live. Otherwise *how* would it 
be possible that we install the same binaries on hundreds of
different OS and systems?

All the programs use SELFAUTOPARENT, kpsewhich etc to find their
configuration files.

> Well, I think that the main purpose of configure is exactly this one --  
> to tweak an installation...

Well, if you think. I tell you from 5 years of experience packaging
TeX Live for Debian that it works, we are doing it since ages, and
it makes all the questions you have asked answered automatically.

Best wishes

Norbert
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Norbert Preining            preining@{jaist.ac.jp, logic.at, debian.org}
JAIST, Japan            TU Wien, Austria           Debian TeX Task Force
DSA: 0x09C5B094   fp: 14DF 2E6C 0307 BE6D AD76  A9C0 D2BF 4AA3 09C5 B094
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