Re: AUCTeX configuration, hardwiring etc...

Jan-Ake Larsson <[email protected]> writes:

> David Kastrup wrote:
>> (defvar TeX-lisp-directory
>>    (expand-file-name @lispextralispdir@
>>      (file-name-directory load-file-name)))
>> 
>> Then we have an option --with-extralispdir[=auctex] to configure.
>> Extra means "outside of load-path" with a bit of fantasy.  If the
>> filename is absolute (which is fine for deb and RPM), the
>> load-file-name has no effect.  If it is relative (for stuff like
>> XEmacs packages or when rolling a prepackaged Emacs that is installed
>> into unknown territory), one can use "." to get the same directory as
>> the startup file (which gets placed in lispdir).
>> 
>> Does this sound like a good scheme?
>
> (Sorry for being away from mail over the weekend.) This was actually
> what I was going to suggest. But I do not like the name.

Neither did I.

> How about
>
>   --with-auctex-lispdir[=auctex]

I'd say that is one of the two contenders, the other being
--with-package-lispdir.  Now the purpose of the --with type options is
that you can specify them for a batch of configures, and only the
relevant ones will get looked at.  So --with-auctex-lispdir would
imply that this setting interests only AUCTeX.  However, if one
compiles a bunch of together, those will typically share the places of
some stuff.

I am in particular thinking of preview-latex, obviously.  If we keep
it in a subdirectory, you can still use and install it separately with
older AUCTeX installations, and as integral part of a then current
installation.  If we just passed the package-lispdir down, that would
be more or less fine then.

But the option name is just a detail, and if it should prove
necessary, we can still change it easily enough in later versions.
Still, my vote is on --with-package-lispdir with a slight margin over
--with-auctex-lispdir.  If somebody feels more strongly about this
than I do, I can also be persuaded to live with the other name.

> Anyway, in addition, we could test for the strings "yes" and "no"
> and use autoconf's mechanism to translate "yes" to "auctex" and "no"
> to "" (or so). The bonus is that we can use
>
>   --without-auctex-lispdir
>
> (which autoconf will translate to "no") and automatically get all
> the files in $lispdir, without a subdirectory. Transparent and
> intuitive.  (I do not think there is much need to install into
> "$lispdir/no" 8^))

Tell that to Norway, the country of trolls...

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum