In some respect I see the current defaults, starting with `--prefix=\
/usr/local', as in some way supporting the *BSD systems since that's
more or less what their heir(7) manual page says.
It has nothing to do with *BSD in particular. People running GNU
programs on non-GNU systems generally wanted to install GNU packages
in /usr/local or some other such place, not in /usr. And originally
the only place to run them was on non-GNU systems.
Indeed if the GNU system has similar policies
No, in GNU these programs should not be in /usr/local, because they
*are* "the system".
I guess what I'm really asking for is that Autoconf to at first take one
more step such that it can automatically reset its defaults to those
necessary to install a package as a `first-class' citizen of the system
(as you've so aptly described this). I'm not stuck on the idea of using
`--prefix=/' to select this default,
/ is the wrong place for such installation. The normal place to put
most programs (at least today) is under /usr, not directly under /.
For example, executables mostly go in /usr/bin, and only a few in
/bin. So --prefix=/ is generally unreasonable. We certainly should
not make this the standard way to ask for anything.
What I mean by `wider' is that we need to allow for identification of
files that belong to either "/" (root) and "/usr" groups too. Perhaps
the following list will give you an idea of what I mean:
bin.files
usr.bin.files
sbin.files
usr.sbin.files
Sorry, you have lost me. I have no idea what those things are.
I think it would also be sensible to add an ability to install even
architecture independent files in a destination other than where it is
expected to be found on the final systems.
I don't understand. Would you please be specific?
In the native build
environment for most *BSDs this is expressed with the make variable
`$(DESTDIR)'.
That name does not fit our general naming conventions for make variables.
I would also make $(exec_prefix) default to $(DESTDIR)
and to deprecate the use of $(exec_prefix).
This would be an incompatible change, and there is no particular
benefit in it, so we should not do it.
