[clug] Why the autotools hate? (Was: Why isn't Java popular on the Linux Desktop?)

[Jack Kelly]

(I'm having a really bad day today, in terms of sending things to
people instead of the list. Sorry guys...)

On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 2:31 PM, James Ring<sjr at jdns.org> wrote:
> Please $DEITY let Java never require autotools.

I don't understand the hate for autotools. IME, it's the best of the
systems that I've played with, both as a user and implementing build
systems with them. I've also played with CMake and SCons, but taken
issue with them and returned to the autotools.

Yes, they are a bit crusty, but I don't see any better option out
there. I think most of the bad rap comes from the horrific macros
people write (I'm looking at you, Tcl/Tk). If you read the manual, the
`right way' isn't such a hard way. automake makes the process a lot
easier, too. The main times I've hit pain are when dealing with
autoconf + some strange hand-rolled Makefile (I'm looking at you,
Tix).

Has anyone had any traumatic experiences that they'd like to share?

-- Jack