[perl #124326] [PATCH] Configure: Probe intsize with a compile-onlytest

On Tue Jun 02 08:08:24 2015, hmbrand wrote:
> The answer from the author of dist/meta:
> 
> --8<---
> The current dist (SVN version, not yet found the time / inclination
> to migrate to git) has switched to compile-time tests whenever
> possible since 2008.
> 
> In particular, the current intsize.U unit uses "static asserts"
> to detect through compile-time errors whether an assertion holds.
> This allows to compute the size of all types via compile tests,
> without having to run anything.
> 
> Even IEEE float endianness is now determined without running a
> program.
> No static assert here however: look at d_ieee754.U.
> 
> The rationale for moving out of run-tests is that it prevents
> cross-compilation to occur.  But when you cross-compile, you
> always have a compiler handy...  Since at some point I had to
> cross-compile gtk-gnutella with MinGW, I had to move away from
> run-tests as much as possible!
> -->8---
> 
> So the answer is yes, but this will take way more time than I
> currently can free: it involves matching every single unit that we (at
> perl5) use against the current checkout of meta/dist' keeping in mind
> that we might have diverged from the original path just for perl.
> 
> The bus factor for this refactor is 1.
> 
> I have done some one-to-one explanations of the process in the past,
> but it never lead to more people working on this code.


Hello,

Thanks for this explanation which is understandable if unfortunate. I wonder if anything might have changed here since your last update? We're revisiting patching Configure directly in Debian again, as it would (eventually) make cross-building easier, but this is indeed makework if the real fix is tractable.

Thanks,
Dominic.

---
via perlbug:  queue: perl5 status: open
https://rt.perl.org/Ticket/Display.html?id=124326

• [perl #124326] [PATCH] Configure: Probe intsize with a compile-onlytest by Dominic Hargreaves via RT