"Steven G. Johnson" wrote: > > Earnie Boyd wrote: > > So now I run `configure -C' always. I use the cache files to > > determine problem areas of my runtime libraries. > > Bill Wendling wrote: > > BTW, the removal of automatically generating a config.cache file by > > default was a bad idea, in my opinion. We actually use that file quite a > > bit. > > Generating config.cache by default caused recurrent problems with users > who would inadvertantly use stale config.cache files. >
Notice that I said that I use `configure -C' as a suggestion for the users who want config.cache. There was a point in time when I didn't know what a config.cache was. There was a point in my life when config.cache was bad. Then I came to realize how it was useful to me. Yes, if I change the runtime, I must recreate the config.cache. > The configure script is intended for *users*, who by far outnumber > developers and are far less capable of realizing what config.cache is > doing. It doesn't make sense to optimize the uncommon case (the > developers, who are perfectly capable of using -C or of modifying > config.site to make it the default) at the expense of the common case > (the users). > I agree. > Akim wrote: > > They don't have understood the point. And then, why keep the .o too? > > And the .deps? > > Again, it's a matter of tradeoffs and optimizing for the common case. > On the one hand, programs spewing files as a side-effect that the user > didn't explicitly request is generally undesirable. On the other hand, > developers change source code files and recompile *very* often, so the > extra speed (which can be orders of magnitude for .o!) is worth the > filesystem litter. > > >I don't think you realize the impact of using the cache here. On the > >file utils, on my machine, it means that running automake, autoconf > >and autoheader is about 1min long. Remove the cache, it's three > >minutes. > > Running autoconf + automake + autoheader is not a common operation for > most developers (autoconf developers don't count!), and in such a > context I would argue that one minute vs. three is not that significant. > There are a number of packages that if you have these installed will run them for you. I don't think it good but ... Earnie.
