[ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at

  http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/

Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.

    Karel


-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
>
>   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
>
> Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
>
>     Karel

Looks like ncurses(w) detection does not work anymore without pkgconfig 
files, for example on openSUSE <=13.1, SLE 12 and openSUSE Leap.

cu,
Rudi 

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 08:03:03AM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
> >
> >   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
> >
> > Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
> >
> >     Karel
> 
> Looks like ncurses(w) detection does not work anymore without pkgconfig 
> files, for example on openSUSE <=13.1, SLE 12 and openSUSE Leap.

Ah, I have thought that people already use pkg-config for ncurses on
all current distributions. For example we have .pc for ncurses on
old CentOS/RHEL 6 (year 2011).

I can add the fallback, but it makes configure messy. Do we really
need it? :-)

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 08:03:03AM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
> > >
> > >   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
> > >
> > > Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
> > >
> > >     Karel
> >
> > Looks like ncurses(w) detection does not work anymore without
> > pkgconfig files, for example on openSUSE <=13.1, SLE 12 and
> > openSUSE Leap.
>
> Ah, I have thought that people already use pkg-config for ncurses on
> all current distributions. For example we have .pc for ncurses on
> old CentOS/RHEL 6 (year 2011).
>
> I can add the fallback, but it makes configure messy. Do we really
> need it? :-)


I've just checked a bit.

The pkg-config files were introduced in ncurses 5.9 (2011). But they are 
still not enabled by default. So many distros may still miss it and 
users who install ncurses from source will probably also miss it in the 
first run. That's a bit annoying.

Actually I was not even able to figure out quickly how to install 
ncursesw.pc. Looks like this would be needed

./configure --enable-pc-files --enable-widec --enable-lib-suffixes --enable-pc-suffixes

That also means that ncurses without suffix "w" may have wide char 
support if not configured with --enable-lib-suffixes 
and --enable-pc-suffixes. So probably our new error does not really 
make sense: "wide-char support enabled, but non-wide ncurses selects"


I wonder why we don't try the config scripts (--libs --cflags) in this 
order:
 ncursesw6-config 
 ncurses6-config
 ncursesw5-config
 ncurses5-config

Looks like they are always installed by default and also always with the 
right suffixes. No fallback needed if we don't use pkg-config at all. 

cu,
Rudi

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 08:03:03AM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > > The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
> > > >
> > > >   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
> > > >
> > > > Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
> > > >
> > > >     Karel
> > >
> > > Looks like ncurses(w) detection does not work anymore without
> > > pkgconfig files, for example on openSUSE <=13.1, SLE 12 and
> > > openSUSE Leap.
> >
> > Ah, I have thought that people already use pkg-config for ncurses on
> > all current distributions. For example we have .pc for ncurses on
> > old CentOS/RHEL 6 (year 2011).
> >
> > I can add the fallback, but it makes configure messy. Do we really
> > need it? :-)
> 
> 
> I've just checked a bit.
> 
> The pkg-config files were introduced in ncurses 5.9 (2011). But they are 
> still not enabled by default. So many distros may still miss it and 
> users who install ncurses from source will probably also miss it in the 
> first run. That's a bit annoying.

It would be probably nice to report this to Suse maintainers.

> Actually I was not even able to figure out quickly how to install 
> ncursesw.pc. Looks like this would be needed
> 
> ./configure --enable-pc-files --enable-widec --enable-lib-suffixes --enable-pc-suffixes
> 
> That also means that ncurses without suffix "w" may have wide char 
> support if not configured with --enable-lib-suffixes 
> and --enable-pc-suffixes. So probably our new error does not really 
> make sense: "wide-char support enabled, but non-wide ncurses selects"

Well, the idea is to keep it simple, "may have wide char" sounds like
we need compile test to be sure. That's crazy. Maybe assume that 
"w" mean wide is good enough.

> I wonder why we don't try the config scripts (--libs --cflags) in this 
> order:
>  ncursesw6-config 
>  ncurses6-config
>  ncursesw5-config
>  ncurses5-config

Parallel universe :-)

> Looks like they are always installed by default and also always with the 
> right suffixes. No fallback needed if we don't use pkg-config at all. 

I'll try to fix it and use pkg-config and if not available then
ncurses-config.  Yes, I think that prefer de-facto standard
pkg-config with generic PKG_* autoconf macros is a good idea.

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Thursday 20 October 2016 at 13:00, you wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 12:25:31PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 08:03:03AM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > > On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > > > The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
> > > > >
> > > > >   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
> > > > >
> > > > > Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
> > > > >
> > > > >     Karel
> > > >
> > > > Looks like ncurses(w) detection does not work anymore without
> > > > pkgconfig files, for example on openSUSE <=13.1, SLE 12 and
> > > > openSUSE Leap.
> > >
> > > Ah, I have thought that people already use pkg-config for ncurses
> > > on all current distributions. For example we have .pc for ncurses
> > > on old CentOS/RHEL 6 (year 2011).
> > >
> > > I can add the fallback, but it makes configure messy. Do we
> > > really need it? :-)
> >
> > I've just checked a bit.
> >
> > The pkg-config files were introduced in ncurses 5.9 (2011). But
> > they are still not enabled by default. So many distros may still
> > miss it and users who install ncurses from source will probably
> > also miss it in the first run. That's a bit annoying.
>
> It would be probably nice to report this to Suse maintainers.
>
> > Actually I was not even able to figure out quickly how to install
> > ncursesw.pc. Looks like this would be needed
> >
> > ./configure --enable-pc-files --enable-widec --enable-lib-suffixes
> > --enable-pc-suffixes
> >
> > That also means that ncurses without suffix "w" may have wide char
> > support if not configured with --enable-lib-suffixes
> > and --enable-pc-suffixes. So probably our new error does not really
> > make sense: "wide-char support enabled, but non-wide ncurses
> > selects"
>
> Well, the idea is to keep it simple, "may have wide char" sounds like
> we need compile test to be sure. That's crazy. Maybe assume that
> "w" mean wide is good enough.

I don't think it makes sense because --with-pc-suffix is disabled by 
default. The normal case is that ncurses.pc points to ncursesw lib.

>
> > I wonder why we don't try the config scripts (--libs --cflags) in
> > this order:
> >  ncursesw6-config
> >  ncurses6-config
> >  ncursesw5-config
> >  ncurses5-config
>
> Parallel universe :-)
>
> > Looks like they are always installed by default and also always
> > with the right suffixes. No fallback needed if we don't use
> > pkg-config at all.
>
> I'll try to fix it and use pkg-config and if not available then
> ncurses-config.  Yes, I think that prefer de-facto standard
> pkg-config with generic PKG_* autoconf macros is a good idea.

For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their own 
pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built with 
correct names and installed in the right location. Even --prefix does 
not work for their pc files. Plus the backward compatibility 
problem ... 


cu,
Rudi

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their own 
> pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built with 
> correct names and installed in the right location. Even --prefix does 
> not work for their pc files. Plus the backward compatibility 
> problem ... 

OK, I have applied:
   https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537f86a244977df212dcb5

with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB. 

We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill if
ncurses-config is everywhere.

It seems drone.io don't like the change https://drone.io/github.com/karelzak/util-linux/641
but not sure if the problem is our build-system or drone.io.

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their
> > own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built
> > with correct names and installed in the right location. Even
> > --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus the backward
> > compatibility problem ...
>
> OK, I have applied:
>   
> https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537f8
>6a244977df212dcb5
>
> with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.

Thanks!

> We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill if
> ncurses-config is everywhere.
>
> It seems drone.io don't like the change
> https://drone.io/github.com/karelzak/util-linux/641 but not sure if
> the problem is our build-system or drone.io.

It finds ncursesw5-config but not the lib. Looks like a packaging bug in 
Ubuntu 12.04.

I guess libncursesw5-dev is not installed but ncursesw5-config is from 
the installed ncurses-bin. The config script should be in the dev 
packages as well as the .pc files.

http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/amd64/ncurses-bin/filelist
http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/amd64/libncursesw5-dev/filelist

We don't need to handle such broken installation. In drone.io script you 
could try
  apt-get install -qq libncursesw5-dev

cu,
Rudi
   

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 06:28:05PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> We don't need to handle such broken installation. In drone.io script you 
> could try
>   apt-get install -qq libncursesw5-dev

We call travis-functions.sh from drone.io, something like:

diff --git a/.travis-functions.sh b/.travis-functions.sh
index 6fcf019..3766534 100755
--- a/.travis-functions.sh
+++ b/.travis-functions.sh
@@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ function travis_install_script
 		libsystemd-daemon-dev \
 		libsystemd-journal-dev \
 		|| true
+
+	# install only if available
+	sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
+		libncursesw6-dev \
+		|| sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
+			libncursesw5-dev \
+			|| true
+
 }
 
 function osx_install_script


.. I guess we prefer ncurses6. Or it's too crazy? :-)

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 06:28:05PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > We don't need to handle such broken installation. In drone.io
> > script you could try
> >   apt-get install -qq libncursesw5-dev
>
> We call travis-functions.sh from drone.io, something like:
>
> diff --git a/.travis-functions.sh b/.travis-functions.sh
> index 6fcf019..3766534 100755
> --- a/.travis-functions.sh
> +++ b/.travis-functions.sh
> @@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ function travis_install_script
>  		libsystemd-daemon-dev \
>  		libsystemd-journal-dev \
>
>  		|| true
>
> +
> +	# install only if available
> +	sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
> +		libncursesw6-dev \
> +		|| sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
> +			libncursesw5-dev \
> +			|| true
> +
>  }
>
>  function osx_install_script
>
>
> .. I guess we prefer ncurses6. Or it's too crazy? :-)

Just checked, v6 is even not available on the newer Ubuntu Trusty which 
we have on travis. But we are using v6 on OSX already :)

Maybe this would be enough for now

diff --git a/.travis-functions.sh b/.travis-functions.sh
index 6fcf019..3766534 100755
--- a/.travis-functions.sh
+++ b/.travis-functions.sh
@@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ function travis_install_script
 		libsystemd-daemon-dev \
 		libsystemd-journal-dev \
+		libncursesw5-dev \
 		|| true
 }


BTW I find the older libs usually more useful on test systems. Because 
the newer ones are tested already on the developer systems and by 
distro packagers ;)

cu,
Rudi

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 07:08:58PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> Just checked, v6 is even not available on the newer Ubuntu Trusty which 
> we have on travis. But we are using v6 on OSX already :)
> 
> Maybe this would be enough for now
> 
> diff --git a/.travis-functions.sh b/.travis-functions.sh
> index 6fcf019..3766534 100755
> --- a/.travis-functions.sh
> +++ b/.travis-functions.sh
> @@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ function travis_install_script
>  		libsystemd-daemon-dev \
>  		libsystemd-journal-dev \
> +		libncursesw5-dev \
>  		|| true
>  }

Still bad, see

  https://drone.io/github.com/karelzak/util-linux/643:

        /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lncursesw

but it complains about systemd only:

        W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these problems
        E: Unable to locate package libsystemd-daemon-dev
        E: Unable to locate package libsystemd-journal-dev
   

and configure:


        checking ncursesw... (v5) yes
        checking ncursesw/ncurses.h usability... no
        checking ncursesw/ncurses.h presence... no
        checking for ncursesw/ncurses.h... no
        checking ncurses.h usability... yes
        checking ncurses.h presence... yes
        checking for ncurses.h... yes
        checking for use_default_colors in -lncursesw... no
        checking for resizeterm in -lncursesw... no

  Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Friday 21 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 07:08:58PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > Just checked, v6 is even not available on the newer Ubuntu Trusty
> > which we have on travis. But we are using v6 on OSX already :)
> >
> > Maybe this would be enough for now
> >
> > diff --git a/.travis-functions.sh b/.travis-functions.sh
> > index 6fcf019..3766534 100755
> > --- a/.travis-functions.sh
> > +++ b/.travis-functions.sh
> > @@ -95,6 +95,14 @@ function travis_install_script
> >  		libsystemd-daemon-dev \
> >  		libsystemd-journal-dev \
> > +		libncursesw5-dev \
> >
> >  		|| true
> >
> >  }
>
> Still bad, see
>
>   https://drone.io/github.com/karelzak/util-linux/643:
>
>         /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -lncursesw
>
> but it complains about systemd only:
>
>         W: You may want to run apt-get update to correct these
> problems E: Unable to locate package libsystemd-daemon-dev
>         E: Unable to locate package libsystemd-journal-dev
>

Ah sorry this was my fault because I had just edited your posted 
diff. :)

We need to add libncursesw5-dev to the first apt-get command. Otherwise 
libncursesw5 fails along with the missing systemd stuff.

        sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
                bc \
                btrfs-tools \
                dnsutils \
                libcap-ng-dev \
 +              libncursesw5-dev \
                libpam-dev \
                libudev-dev \
                gtk-doc-tools \
                mdadm \
                ntp \
                socat \
                || return

        # install only if available (e.g. Ubuntu Trusty)
        sudo apt-get install -qq >/dev/null \
                libsystemd-daemon-dev \
                libsystemd-journal-dev \
                || true



> and configure:
>
>
>         checking ncursesw... (v5) yes
>         checking ncursesw/ncurses.h usability... no
>         checking ncursesw/ncurses.h presence... no
>         checking for ncursesw/ncurses.h... no
>         checking ncurses.h usability... yes
>         checking ncurses.h presence... yes
>         checking for ncurses.h... yes
>         checking for use_default_colors in -lncursesw... no
>         checking for resizeterm in -lncursesw... no
>
>   Karel

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Thursday 20 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their
> > own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built
> > with correct names and installed in the right location. Even
> > --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus the backward
> > compatibility problem ...
>
> OK, I have applied

BTW don't know why I have not thought about it first, there is also 
autoconf-archive ...
https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/ax_with_curses.html


> https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537f8
>6a244977df212dcb5
>
> with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.
>
> We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill if
> ncurses-config is everywhere.
>
> It seems drone.io don't like the change
> https://drone.io/github.com/karelzak/util-linux/641 but not sure if
> the problem is our build-system or drone.io.
>
>     Karel

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Mike Frysinger]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 1160 bytes --]

On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their own 
> > pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built with 
> > correct names and installed in the right location. Even --prefix does 
> > not work for their pc files. Plus the backward compatibility 
> > problem ... 
> 
> OK, I have applied:
>    https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537f86a244977df212dcb5
> 
> with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB. 
> 
> We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill if
> ncurses-config is everywhere.

ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running `xxx-config`,
it now breaks cross-compiling.

why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.

"it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.
-mike

[-- Attachment #2: Digital signature --]
[-- Type: application/pgp-signature, Size: 819 bytes --]

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 12:15:10PM -0500, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like their own 
> > > pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get them built with 
> > > correct names and installed in the right location. Even --prefix does 
> > > not work for their pc files. Plus the backward compatibility 
> > > problem ... 
> > 
> > OK, I have applied:
> >    https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537f86a244977df212dcb5
> > 
> > with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB. 
> > 
> > We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill if
> > ncurses-config is everywhere.
> 
> ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
> is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running `xxx-config`,
> it now breaks cross-compiling.

Does it mean that you have system (build root) where is no
ncurses-config{5,6}, but you have pkg-config only?

The argument for ncurses-config has been that it seems it's preferred
solution by ncurses upstream.

It will be simple to extend UL_NCURSES_CHECK() function to support also
pkg-config.

> why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
> not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
> distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.

Well, it's pretty common that people recompile any package on the
current system. I think our goal is to support as much as possible
scenarios (yes, nothing is unlimited including my patience with
obscure installations ;-)

> "it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.

That's true.

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Monday 12 December 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 12:15:10PM -0500, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> > On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like
> > > > their own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get
> > > > them built with correct names and installed in the right
> > > > location. Even --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus
> > > > the backward compatibility problem ...
> > >
> > > OK, I have applied:
> > >   
> > > https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce805
> > >37f86a244977df212dcb5
> > >
> > > with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.
> > >
> > > We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like
> > > overkill if ncurses-config is everywhere.
> >
> > ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
> > is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running
> > `xxx-config`, it now breaks cross-compiling.
>
> Does it mean that you have system (build root) where is no
> ncurses-config{5,6}, but you have pkg-config only?

Usually cross-compiled libs to be used by a cross compiler are installed 
in a prefix like

 /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/

So you would probaby have such an ncurses5-config (which is not in 
PATH):

  /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/ncurses5-config

Simply adding this bin dir to PATH wouldn't be a good idea because it 
may contain binaries build for another target.

The "advantage" of pkg-config is 
that "configure --host=i686-w64-mingw32" is smart and tries to use a 
host-prefixed "i686-w64-mingw32-pkg-config" instead of 
just "pkg-config". The prefixed pkg-config is searching .pc files in 
the right sysroot. Though the smartness ends if you have 
PKG_CONFIG_PATH in your env ... 


> The argument for ncurses-config has been that it seems it's preferred
> solution by ncurses upstream.
>
> It will be simple to extend UL_NCURSES_CHECK() function to support
> also pkg-config.
>
> > why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
> > not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
> > distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.
>
> Well, it's pretty common that people recompile any package on the
> current system. I think our goal is to support as much as possible
> scenarios (yes, nothing is unlimited including my patience with
> obscure installations ;-)

> > "it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.
>
> That's true.
>
>     Karel

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Saturday 10 December 2016, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like
> > > their own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get
> > > them built with correct names and installed in the right
> > > location. Even --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus
> > > the backward compatibility problem ...
> >
> > OK, I have applied:
> >   
> > https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537
> >f86a244977df212dcb5
> >
> > with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.
> >
> > We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill
> > if ncurses-config is everywhere.
>
> ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
> is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running `xxx-config`,
> it now breaks cross-compiling.

Works for me, when adding the ncurses5-config to the PATH
$ /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/ncurses5-config  --libs
-L/usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib -lncurses -ltinfo

> why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
> not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
> distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.

I guess we should better fix ncurses upstream, to avoid having ncurses 
packages on any distros broken in different ways.

> "it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.

No, no. This was about installing plain ncurses as a normal user 
(./configure --prefix ...). If upstream does not provide .pc files by 
default then we should not rely on them. You can't blame users nor 
package maintainers for installing a lib in a way like upstream 
recommends.

To re-add pkg-config plus fallback we could try AX_WITH_CURSES from 
autoconf-archive:
https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/ax_with_curses.html#ax_with_curses

cu,
Rudi

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 03:01:57PM +0100, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> On Saturday 10 December 2016, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> > On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like
> > > > their own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get
> > > > them built with correct names and installed in the right
> > > > location. Even --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus
> > > > the backward compatibility problem ...
> > >
> > > OK, I have applied:
> > >   
> > > https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537
> > >f86a244977df212dcb5
> > >
> > > with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.
> > >
> > > We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill
> > > if ncurses-config is everywhere.
> >
> > ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
> > is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running `xxx-config`,
> > it now breaks cross-compiling.
> 
> Works for me, when adding the ncurses5-config to the PATH
> $ /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/ncurses5-config  --libs
> -L/usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib -lncurses -ltinfo
> 
> > why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
> > not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
> > distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.
> 
> I guess we should better fix ncurses upstream, to avoid having ncurses 
> packages on any distros broken in different ways.
> 
> > "it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.
> 
> No, no. This was about installing plain ncurses as a normal user 
> (./configure --prefix ...). If upstream does not provide .pc files by 
> default then we should not rely on them. You can't blame users nor 
> package maintainers for installing a lib in a way like upstream 
> recommends.
> 
> To re-add pkg-config plus fallback we could try AX_WITH_CURSES from 
> autoconf-archive:
> https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf-archive/ax_with_curses.html#ax_with_curses

I have add one AC_IF and PKG_CHECK_MODULES to our UL_NCURSES_CHECK to
prefer pkg-config and fallback to ncurses-config. It's trivial fix and
it seems it works as expected.

No problem to support AX_WITH_CURSES (go ahead if you want), but I'm
lazy :-) to test this completely new solution.

    Karel

-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Mike Frysinger]

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On 12 Dec 2016 15:28, Karel Zak wrote:
> I have add one AC_IF and PKG_CHECK_MODULES to our UL_NCURSES_CHECK to
> prefer pkg-config and fallback to ncurses-config. It's trivial fix and
> it seems it works as expected.

thanks

i'd also note that the current logic isn't the preferred method for
finding tools like this.  the code looks like:
  if AC_RUN_LOG([suffix[]6-config --version >/dev/null]); then

which means it runs xxx6-config directly.  in autotools, you want to:
	AC_CHECK_TOOL([NCURSES_CONFIG], [ncurses-config])
this will make it search for $host-ncurses-config first, and when
cross-compiling, it'll warn if it falls back to ncurses-config.  it
also means builders can set $NCURSES_CONFIG to whatever weird path
they want to.

based on how the current code is written, it'll be a little more
difficult to integrate.  you'd have to use like m4_translit.
untested:
	m4_define([SUFFIX], m4_translit($1, [a-z], [A-Z]))
	...
	AC_CHECK_TOOL(SUFFIX[]6_CONFIG, suffix[]6-config)
	if AC_RUN_LOG($SUFFIX[]6_CONFIG --version ....
-mike

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Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Karel Zak]

On Mon, Dec 12, 2016 at 01:27:35PM -0500, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> 	m4_define([SUFFIX], m4_translit($1, [a-z], [A-Z]))
> 	...
> 	AC_CHECK_TOOL(SUFFIX[]6_CONFIG, suffix[]6-config)
> 	if AC_RUN_LOG($SUFFIX[]6_CONFIG --version ....

 Good point, implemented. Thanks!

    Karel


-- 
 Karel Zak  <kzak@redhat.com>
 http://karelzak.blogspot.com

Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Mike Frysinger]

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On 12 Dec 2016 15:01, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> On Saturday 10 December 2016, Mike Frysinger wrote:
> > On 20 Oct 2016 17:19, Karel Zak wrote:
> > > On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 01:34:24PM +0200, Ruediger Meier wrote:
> > > > For me it looks like the even the ncurses authors do not like
> > > > their own pc files. Disabled by default and it's a pain to get
> > > > them built with correct names and installed in the right
> > > > location. Even --prefix does not work for their pc files. Plus
> > > > the backward compatibility problem ...
> > >
> > > OK, I have applied:
> > >   
> > > https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/commit/e5cc93b5a8854fce80537
> > >f86a244977df212dcb5
> > >
> > > with ncurses-config and fallback to old good AC_CHECK_LIB.
> > >
> > > We can add fallback to pkg-config too, but it sounds like overkill
> > > if ncurses-config is everywhere.
> >
> > ugh, this change makes things worse.  the point of using pkg-config
> > is also to get sane cross-compiling.  by always running `xxx-config`,
> > it now breaks cross-compiling.
> 
> Works for me, when adding the ncurses5-config to the PATH
> $ /usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/bin/ncurses5-config  --libs
> -L/usr/i686-w64-mingw32/sys-root/mingw/lib -lncurses -ltinfo

don't take this the wrong way (seriously, it's not personal or anything),
but this statement implies you don't cross-compile regularly (or at all).
this hack doesn't scale at all and is a horrible horrible idea.  the fact
that you managed to execute an arbitrary shell script is irrelevant here.

> > why can't we just tell distros to fix their ncurses install ?  it's
> > not like 2.29, released a month ago, is getting rolled out to old
> > distros where people can't update their ncurses systems.
> 
> I guess we should better fix ncurses upstream, to avoid having ncurses 
> packages on any distros broken in different ways.

working with upstream ncurses to get better/smoother defaults is always
a good idea.  but that doesn't lead into the next point.

> > "it's hard" is a pretty weak argument for distro maintainers.
> 
> No, no. This was about installing plain ncurses as a normal user 
> (./configure --prefix ...). If upstream does not provide .pc files by 
> default then we should not rely on them. You can't blame users nor 
> package maintainers for installing a lib in a way like upstream 
> recommends.

sure i can.  distro maintainers have like one job: maintain a distro.
the fact that they have to read the docs and configure options to get
a build with pc files isn't exactly onerous.

as for users building their own distro, that's pretty uncommon.  there
are a lot of ways you could play that angle in (wrongly) trying to make
the build system cater to their mistakes.  why should every random pkg
out there duplicate this kind of logic ?

that said, i'm not advocating for *requiring* pc files.  if util-linux
wants to support a *fallback* of executing the old config scripts, that
is fine.  but it shouldn't be to the detriment of properly configured
systems that have sane pc files available.
-mike

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Re: [ANNOUNCE] util-linux v2.29-rc2

[Ruediger Meier]

On Wednesday 19 October 2016, Karel Zak wrote:
> The util-linux release v2.29-rc1 is available at
>
>   http://ftp.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/v2.29/
>
> Feedback and bug reports, as always, are welcomed.
>
>     Karel


I have one minor pull request
https://github.com/karelzak/util-linux/pull/365

cu,
Rudi