Re: [DTrace-devel] [PATCH] configure: accept standard installation directory options

On 4 Mar 2026, Kris Van Hees via DTrace-devel verbalised:

> Even though we do not use them, the GNU Coding Standards expect configure
> to accept the following installation directory options as well:
>
> 	--infodir=PREFIX/share/info	Info documentation directory
> 	--sysconfdir=PREFIX/etc		System configuration directory
> 	--localstatedir=PREFIX/var	Runtime system data directory
> 	--runstatedir=PREFIX/var/run	Per-process data directory
>
> This patch also redefines some of the make variables in terms of one
> another now that a larger set is supported.

Oh, excellent!

> Signed-off-by: Kris Van Hees <[email protected]>

Looks good, but...

> ---
>  GNUmakefile | 13 ++++++++-----
>  configure   | 42 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
>  2 files changed, 43 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
> index 38ae5423..835bc9b5 100644
> --- a/GNUmakefile
> +++ b/GNUmakefile
> @@ -90,15 +90,18 @@ SBINDIR = $(prefix)/sbin
>  INSTSBINDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(SBINDIR)
>  UDEVDIR = $(prefix)/lib/udev/rules.d
>  INSTUDEVDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(UDEVDIR)
> -SYSTEMDPRESETDIR = $(prefix)/lib/systemd/system-preset
> -SYSTEMDUNITDIR = $(prefix)/lib/systemd/system
> +SYSTEMDDIR = $(prefix)/lib/systemd
> +SYSTEMDPRESETDIR = $(SYSTEMDDIR)/system-preset
> +SYSTEMDUNITDIR = $(SYSTEMDDIR)/system
>  INSTSYSTEMDPRESETDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(SYSTEMDPRESETDIR)
>  INSTSYSTEMDUNITDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(SYSTEMDUNITDIR)
> -DOCDIR = $(prefix)/share/doc/dtrace-$(VERSION)
> +DATAROOTDIR = $(prefix)/share
> +DATADIR = $(DATAROOTDIR)
> +DOCDIR = $(DATADIR)/doc/dtrace-$(VERSION)
>  INSTDOCDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(DOCDIR)
> -MANDIR = $(prefix)/share/man
> +MANDIR = $(DATADIR)/man
>  INSTMANDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(MANDIR)
> -PKGCONFIGDIR = $(prefix)/share/pkgconfig
> +PKGCONFIGDIR = $(DATADIR)/pkgconfig
>  INSTPKGCONFIGDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(PKGCONFIGDIR)
>  TESTDIR = $(LIBDIR)/dtrace/testsuite
>  INSTTESTDIR = $(DESTDIR)$(TESTDIR)
> diff --git a/configure b/configure
> index cb2f585a..96a13137 100755
> --- a/configure
> +++ b/configure
> @@ -53,16 +53,30 @@ help()
>  Installation paths:
>  
>  --prefix=/usr					Prefix of all installed paths
> +--exec-prefix=PREFIX				Prefix of arch-dependent paths
>  --objdir=build					Build directory
>  --libdir=PREFIX/lib64				Library directory
>  --bindir=PREFIX/sbin				Binary directory
>  --sbindir=PREFIX/sbin				Alias for --bindir
> +--libexecdir=PREFIX/libexec			Program executables directory
> +--sysconfdir=PREFIX/etc				System configuration directory
> +--sharedstatedir=PREFIX/com			Arch-independent data directory
> +--localstatedir=PREFIX/var			Runtime system data directory
> +--runstatedir=PREFIX/var/run			Per-process data directory
>  --includedir=PREFIX/include			#include directory
> ---mandir=PREFIX/share/man			Manpage directory
> ---pkg-config-dir=PREFIX/share/pkgconfig		Pkg-config directory
> ---udevdir=PREFIX/lib/udev/rules.d		udev rules directory
> ---systemd-unit-dir=PREFIX/lib/systemd/system	systemd unit directory

Did you mean to entirely disappear this option? It would still have an
effect if it was kept.

> ---docdir=PREFIX/share/doc/dtrace		Documentation directory
> +--oldincludedir=PREFIX/include			#include directory (non-gcc)
> +--udevdir=PREFIX/lib/udev/rules.d		Udev rules directory
> +--systemd-dir=PREFIX/lib/systemd		Systemd config directory
> +--datarootdir=PREFIX/share			Arch-independent data root
> +--datadir=DATAROOTDIR				Arch-independent data directory
> +--pkg-config-dir=DATADIR/pkgconfig		Pkg-config directory
> +--infodir=DATARIR/info				Info documentation directory
> +--localedir=DATADIR/locale			locale specific data directory
> +--mandir=DATADIR/man				Manpage documentation directory
> +--docdir=DATADIR/doc/dtrace			Documentation root directory
> +--htmldir=DOCDIR				Html documentation directory
> +--pdfdir=DOCDIR					PDF documentation directory
> +--psdir=DOCDIR					PS documentation directory
>  --testdir=LIBDIR/dtrace/testsuite		Testsuite install directory

Nice!

... really the number of these is quite overwhelming now. I think we
need a little more structure. It might be worth indicating in the help
output which options have no effect, though, since some of them do have
an effect indirectly, like --datarootdir, but some have no effect at
all, like --oldincludedir. I'm honestly shocked --oldincludedir still
exists -- I've never seen anything at all that uses it. Maybe GCC
pre-2.7.x?

Maybe these should be moved to separate --help sections, maybe titled
'Installation paths affecting other paths' and 'Unused paths accepted
for compatibility only'?

> +        --pdfdir=*) write_make_var PDFDIR "$option";;
> +        --psdir=*) write_make_var PSDIR "$option";;

These don't exist in most Autoconf-using programs at all, though they
are in the GNU Coding Standards. But, again, this would be fine with me
if only they were moved into a separate --help section :)

-- 
NULL && (void)