Re: bitpim binary modules breaks Gentoo QA policies

> i wont address this because i have no idea what bitpim is 

http://www.bitpim.org :-)

> let alone try and take over maintenance for it :)

The problem isn't really with BitPim.  Gentoo doesn't currently
handle a package that updates as quickly as BitPim does (and
in doing so obsoletes earlier releases).  Additionally there
are a number of dependencies that are non-existent or poorly
maintained in portage.  They need to be maintained.

> this fix is simple ... just change build.sh to pass -fPIC to gcc

Done.

>> > TEXTREL usr/lib/bitpim-0.8.08/apsw.so
> 
> hmm, i'll have to do some research to figure out what's wrong with this, but i 
> would guess that it's as simple as the fix for libusb.so ...

This is built as a Python extension.  Python has something called
distutils which hides how programs are built on the platform.  I
provide this as a setup.py file:

setup(name="apsw",
      version=version,
      author="Roger Binns",
      author_email="[email protected]",
      description="Another Python SQLite Wrapper",

      ext_modules=[Extension("apsw",
                             ["apsw.c"])]

Distutils compiles and links it without me caring how.

> hmm, what version of binutils does your Redhat 9 box have ?  

2.13.90.0.18

> see if the version of ld on it supports exec stack markings 

It doesn't.

> i maintain netpbm and make sure that it stays up-to-date ... 
> so the proposed idea seems like it'll work just dandy 

It won't unless whoever provides the bitpim ebuild makes it
remove those binaries before the install phase.  I haven't
seen anyone commit to keeping that up to date.  (The only
thing needed is to bump the version every 3 weeks and 
remove ~x86)

I can make the code look for /etc/gentoo release and then
use the system netpbm.  However that will still cause the
QA whining message on install and doesn't really improve
things (the binaries we ship run fine, the images are
small).

My other suggestion was a seperate package (eg gentoo-rpm)
that will install an rpm and keep the contents known to
portage synthesizing the existence of an ebuild.  I am
happy to then put scripts into the rpm that tool could read.
For example the scripts would remove the netpbm binaries
we supply.

Roger


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