Re: Texinfo 7.2.90 build with mingw.org's MinGW: testing and installation

On Sat, Jan 17, 2026 at 09:43:44PM +0100, [email protected] wrote:
> > > > Which brings me to the installation.  I've just run "make install",
> > > > and I see that various libtexinfo*.dll DLLs are installed in
> > > > $prefix/lib/bin.
> > > 
> > > That is somewhat unexpected.  In tta/C/Makefile.am, there is
> > > 
> > > converterlibdir = $(libdir)/$(CONVERTER)
> > > xsdir = $(converterlibdir)
> > > 
> > > and the libraries are in xs_LTLIBRARIES, and therefore should be
> > > installed in $(libdir)/texi2any, since CONVERTER=texi2any.
> > > 
> > > xs_LTLIBRARIES += libtexinfo.la
> > 
> > I think the reason is libtool.  It "knows" that shared libraries on
> > Windows need to be installed in the 'bin' subdirectory, not in the
> > 'lib' subdirectory as on Posix systems.
> > 
> > So I guess this calls for some Makefile wizardry, to make sure
> > libtexinfo*.dll libraries end up in lib/texi2any/ instead.
> 
> Ok.  I guess we have to bypass libtool on that.

Is this a new problem?  Were the libraries installed in the wrong place
with Texinfo 7.2?

I know libtool is used for installation, as sometimes it needs to relink
a library file so it works in the new location.  But installing in a
completely different location sounds like a bad idea.

The .la files can contain a "libdir" line which may affect where the
files are installed.  For example:

# Directory that this library needs to be installed in:
libdir='/usr/local/lib/texi2any'

Eli: can you check the contents of some of the .la files before they
are installed, to confirm which location the libdir= lines refer to?