[Python-Dev] New autoconf in use! (original) (raw)

Guido van Rossum guido@python.org
Fri, 12 Apr 2002 20:09:46 -0400

>> The other issue is caching: autoconf 2.50 will, by default, not >> generate a config.cache, since that has caused too many problems.

Guido> Leave it as it is unless there are many complaints. Agreed. Most machines are fast enough nowadays that the absence of config.cache isn't a major stumbling block. If they are that sensitive to the performance reduction, they can install autoconf themselves and generate a local version of the configure script.

Here's another reason why it's fine to leave the cache off by default: most people will build Python only once per directory -- they'll download a version, run ./configure, make, and make install. For them, the cache doesn't help at all. The people for whom it matters are developers using CVS, who need to run configure frequently (e.g. each time a new configure script is checked in). Those people know what they're doing and can do the -C thing if they find it too slow.

Personally, I usually do "./configure; make test" in one window and continue deleting email in another. ;-)

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)