gmp 4.1.4 build on 32 bit sparc8 misconfigures build as 64 bit for sparc9

[Axel Simon]

On Fri, 2005-08-05 at 23:49 +0200, Torbjorn Granlund wrote:

>   - The document should be self-contained, as far as this is possible. It
>   should be enough for 95% of all people installing gmp, not only for the
>   impatient. Many people will not actually use gmp but are merely told to
>   install it, hence the introduction to programming gmp in INSTALL is out
>   of place.
> 
> I disagree.  The INSTALL document really says what it is: a guide
> for the impatient.  But 99.9% of the people will actually not
> need to read anything but this, and a novice user will get a
> trivial example of how to use the library.  This is how I'd like
> documentation for all libs to be!  :-)

But the INSTALL document should tell the user how to install gmp. It
shouldn't be a primer on how to program with it. gmp is used in many
other programs like kaffee or ghc (Haskell). Users that need to install
these and *every* sys-admin does not need to know about how to program
with gmp.

>   The example code makes INSTALL too long to be for the
>   impatient. Hence, I would not blame anyone for not reading to
>   the end.
> 
> Then I'd challenge you to contribute to this Free Software
> project to communicate the same information in less text.

I did. Didn't you read my proposed INSTALL document?

>   - A lot of the installation section is structured for people who now
>   what they are looking for. Since I didn't know about ABIs and ISAs, I
>   did not read the ABI section so solve my linking problems.
> 
> If you read "ABI and ISA" in the chapter on how to install GMP,
> and don't know what it is, shouldn't you be reading exactly
> *that* text???  It seems safe to assume it is important (in
> particular as we point to it from even more prominent parts of
> the manual).

Yes, I do read everything! But only when I run into problems that I
don't understand.

> Complaints such as the ones from Graham are hard to deal with,
> since it is clear he didn't bother to really read ever the first
> few pages of what we've written.  And he didn't say "this is not
> good in my opinion, perhaps do it like this and that instead".
> 
> ABI issues are very complex, and the details are clearly beyond
> the scope of the GMP documentation.  If anybody expects the GNP
> manual to clarify ABI issues to some detail, they are expecting
> too much from us.  We try to focus on the most important things
> in the most prominent places, but we clearly don't please
> everyone.

I think the API variable is rather special to people who are used to
autoconf tools. Hence, it deserves mentioning in the INSTALL document.

I attach my proposal again.

Axel.

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or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU Lesser General Public
License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU Lesser General Public License
along with the GNU MP Library; see the file COPYING.LIB.  If not, write to
the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA
02111-1307, USA.





                          INSTALLING GNU MP
                          =================


These instructions are only for the impatient.  Others should read the install
instructions in gmp.info.  Use


or in emacs

	C-u C-h i gmp.info


Here are some brief instructions on how to install GMP. For a more thorough
description of the many ways gmp can be configured, refer to the install
instructions in the manual page which can be read by typing 
	info -f ./gmp.info
in the current directory.

The gmp library uses the autoconf tool-chain which should enable you to build
and install the library by typing the following:

	./configure
	make
	make install

Type "./configure --help" to check what options the configure script supports.
For example, you might want to specify the --prefix=<your path> option
which will install the library into <your path>. If this option is not given,
the library will be installed into /usr/local. Note that in this case
"make install" root privileges.

While configuration is fully automatic, some inferred values might not be
what you expect. Most notably, the library will be built as a 64-bit library
if the platform supports this. Some applications, however, expect a 32-bit
library (even on 64-bit platforms) and will fail to link against an
off-the-shelf built of gmp if it defaults to 64-bit. To force gmp to built
as a 32-bit library, set the ABI environment variable when you run configure:
	./configure ABI=32

Sometimes the build works fine but the resulting library is actually
broken. To check that gmp was built correctly, you should run "make check"
preferably before you install it.

If any of the above steps fail, or you care about the performance of GMP,
you need to read the full instructions in the chapter "Installing GMP"
in the manual.

Some known build problems are noted in the "Installing GMP" chapter of
the manual.  Please report other problems to bug-gmp at gnu.org.

To create the printable documentation from the texinfo source, type "make
gmp.dvi" or "make gmp.ps".  This requires various "tex" commands.

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