through @code{configure; make; make install} with all its
dependencies, options, and hurdles.
-Red Hat, Debian, and similar package systems solve the ``ease of
+Red Hat, Debian, and other binary distributions solve the ``ease of
installation'' problem, but they hardwire path names, usually to
@file{/usr} or @file{/usr/local}. This means that users need root
privileges to install a binary package, and prevents installing two
different versions of the same binary package.
A relocatable program can be moved or copied to a different location
-on the filesystem. It is possible to make symlinks to the installed
+on the file system. It is possible to make symlinks to the installed
and moved programs, and invoke them through the symlink. It is
possible to do the same thing with a hard link @emph{only} if the hard
link file is in the same directory as the real program.
-The @code{relocatable} module aims to ease the process of making a GNU
-program relocatable. It helps overcome two obstacles. First, it aids
+The @code{relocatable-prog} module aims to ease the process of making a
+GNU program relocatable. It helps overcome two obstacles. First, it aids
with relocating the hard-coded references to absolute file names that
GNU programs often contain. These references must be fixed up at
runtime if a program is to be successfully relocated. The
-@code{relocatable} module provides a function @code{relocate} that
+@code{relocatable-prog} module provides a function @code{relocate} that
does this job.
Second, the loader must be able to find shared libraries linked to
relocatable executables or referenced by other shared libraries linked
-to relocatable executables. The @code{relocatable} module helps out
+to relocatable executables. The @code{relocatable-prog} module helps out
here in a platform-specific way:
@itemize
This approach does not always work. On OpenBSD and OpenServer,
prereleases of Libtool 1.5 put absolute file names of libraries in
-executables, which prevents searching any other locations.
+executables, which prevents searching any other locations.
@item
On Windows, the executable's own directory is searched for libraries,
@enumerate
@item
-Import the @code{relocatable} module.
+Import the @code{relocatable-prog} module.
@item
In every program, add to @code{main} as the first statement (even
@noindent
becomes:
-@example
+@example
bindtextdomain (PACKAGE, relocate (LOCALEDIR));
@end example
The prototype for this function is in @file{relocatable.h}.
@item
+The @code{set_program_name} function can also configure some
+additional libraries to relocate files that they access, by defining
+corresponding C preprocessor symbols to 1. The libraries for which
+this is supported and the corresponding preprocessor symbols are:
+
+@table @asis
+@item libcharset
+@code{DEPENDS_ON_LIBCHARSET}
+
+@item libiconv
+@code{DEPENDS_ON_LIBICONV}
+
+@item libintl
+@code{DEPENDS_ON_LIBINTL}
+@end table
+
+Defining the symbol for a library makes every program in the package
+depend on that library, whether the program really uses the library or
+not, so this feature should be used with some caution.
+
+@item
If your package installs shell scripts, also import the
@code{relocatable-script} module. Then, near the beginning of each
shell script that your package installs, add the following:
orig_installdir="$bindir" # see Makefile.am's *_SCRIPTS variables
func_find_curr_installdir # determine curr_installdir
func_find_prefixes
- # Relocate the directory variables that we use.
- gettext_dir=`echo "$gettext_dir/" | sed -e
-"s%^$@{orig_installprefix@}/%$@{curr_installprefix@}/%" | sed -e 's,/$,,'`
+ relocate () @{
+ echo "$1/" \
+ | sed -e "s%^$@{orig_installprefix@}/%$@{curr_installprefix@}/%" \
+ | sed -e 's,/$,,'
+ @}
+else
+ relocate () @{
+ echo "$1"
+ @}
fi
+
+# Get some relocated directory names.
+sysconfdir=`relocate "@@sysconfdir@@"`
+some_datadir=`relocate "@@datadir@@/something"`
@end example
You must adapt the definition of @code{orig_installdir}, depending on
where the script gets installed. Also, at the end, instead of
-@code{gettext_dir}, transform those variables that you need.
+@code{sysconfdir} and @code{some_datadir}, transform those variables
+that you need.
@item
In your @file{Makefile.am}, for every program @command{foo} that gets
@end example
@item
-You may also need to add one or two variable assignments to your
-@file{configure.ac}.
+You may also need to add a couple of variable assignments to your
+@file{configure.ac}.
If your package (or any package you rely on, e.g.@: gettext-runtime)
will be relocated together with a set of installed shared libraries,
projects / gnulib.git / blobdiff