[Buildroot] [PATCH 1/1] ncurses: generate libtermcap

[Yann E. MORIN <yann.morin.1998@free.fr>]

Pascal, All,

On 2015-12-02 11:39 +0100, Pascal Mazon spake thusly:
> On 11/30/2015 11:30 PM, Thomas Petazzoni wrote:
> > On Fri, 24 Apr 2015 14:54:26 +0200, Pascal Mazon wrote:
> >> There is no libtermcap package in buildroot, but ncurses implements
> termcap
> >> natively. Furthermore, ncurses already provides the termcap.h header
> file.
> >>
> >> With this patch, we fix an issue encountered with some external
> toolchains
> >> that include a libtermcap.a (typically the GNU libtermcap version) in
> their
> >> sysroot folder.
> >> Bash, for instance, would be linking with this libtermcap while using
> >> headers from ncurses.
> >>
> >> In order to be consistent, let's make sure there is only the ncurses'
> >> termcap library. To that effect, we:
> >> - remove any libtermcap.* in the staging dir,
> >> - install a link to libncurses static and/or shared in staging and target
> >>    dirs.
> >>
> >> Signed-off-by: Pascal Mazon <pascal.mazon@6wind.com>
> >
> > We finally took a bit of time on IRC today to discuss your patch. From
> > our point of view, the fact that your toolchain provides libtermcap.a
> > is a bug of the toolchain. From Buildroot's point of view, a toolchain
> > should not provide in its sysroot anything but the C library and its
> > headers, and the kernel headers.
> >
> > If we start doing hacks in packages to cope with toolchain sysroot
> > already shipped with some libraries, it's going to be an endless fight
> > against those toolchains. You have the problem with libtermcap.a, but
> > the next person will have it with libz.a, and then lib<something>, and
> > again.
> >
> > Our suggestion is that you fix your toolchain either by asking your
> > toolchain vendor, or by doing a quick hack to remove libtermcap.a
> > before using the toolchain with Buildroot. If you add this toolchain as
> > a known Buildroot profile, you can even automate this and make it part
> > of the build process.
> >
> > Best regards,
> >
> > Thomas
> >
> 
> I understand buildroot's point of view.
> Indeed, it does not look like the best solution to hack in packages for a
> problem from the toolchain.
> 
> I will try your suggestion.
> Maybe we can modify copy_toolchain_sysroot in toolchain/helpers.mk to add a
> custom "--exclude" when rsync-ing (with values taken from an newly added
> option)?

Like a patch I submitted a while ago and was rejected?
    https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/535404/

Thomas, Peter, it seems we now have a valid use-case for that patch.
Should I respin it, now?

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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