Automake and libtool for Samba

[David Collier-Brown]

Michael Sweet wrote:
> > I first ran across automake and libtool when doing the IRIX
> > distributions for GIMP and SANE; my personal opinion is that they
> > are evil programs that shouldn't be used.

Matt Peterson wrote:
> ... A rather harsh judgment of tools that have made their way in to
> thousands of projects from KDE to Apache.

	If a portability tool makes it harder to achieve
	portability, it tends to annoy the peron using it (;-))

	I've used six different, idiosyncratic portability
	systems: all can be made to work, with varying degrees
	of success.  

	I recommend **considerable care** in  adopting any 
	of them, unless they can be shown to have more benefits
	than problems.  That usually occurs when
		- the program becomes mature
		- it's been debugged on a significant number
		  on unix-like platforms (such as VOS)
		- a proponent steps forward to help, and
		- the last "can't work" platform gets added.

	The last criteria is the critical one!

--dave 
-- 
David Collier-Brown,  | Always do right. This will gratify some people
185 Ellerslie Ave.,   | and astonish the rest.        -- Mark Twain
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Work: (905) 415-2849 Home: (416) 223-8968 Email: davecb at canada.sun.com