[MINC-users] Register's configure test for GLUT

[Alex Zijdenbos]

> :) not that I should be laughing mind you... :)  Still this teaches
> the value of checking config.log.
> Still I only laugh because I have done the same thing countless times
> with other packages.

Same here it seems... in this case though it took me a long while to
even think to check the configure log, as it didn't fail :/

>> But configure carries on, now leaving -lglut off the list of libraries
>> to link in. From config.log, it turns out that configure not actually
>> fails on a missing libglut, but on a missing libXmu and libXi.
>> However, these don't actually appear to be required at all; forcefully
>> adding -lglut to the linking stage produces a working executable.
>
> Well, they are required, just not by Register for the parts of glut
> that it uses. I would be loathe to remove them as this is the
> "standard" GLUT checking thing that you get from the autoconf archive.

Hmmm - so I would say there is something that doesn't entirely line up
there. If these dependencies exist, shouldn't installing the glut
packages draw these other libraries in as well? I guess the
Ubuntu/Debian package dependencies don't follow the same conventions
or logic as the autoconf archive...

>> I think the solution is to modify the test for libglut such that it
>> does not depend on libXmu and libXi, and also to make it required that
>> the configure passes that test. I'm afraid I am not familiar enough
>> with this to make the change myself though - any takers? Googling I
>> see that I am not the first one to be stumped by this :)
>
> Well to me the best fix is to fix the configure.in file so that it
> checks the return values and dies "appropriately", I have attached
> what I think it should be.  Try this and then autogen.sh and configure
> again and let me know how it goes.

Attached where?

>> Lastly, I should say that a bandaid (but working) solution on Ubuntu is to
>>
>>  apt-get install libxmu-dev libxi-dev
>
> Or apt-get install mincbundle... :)

On that note, what is the 'minc-tools' package that has ended up in
the standard ubuntu distribution, and how did it get there? :)

>> But really, that is just installing some libraries just to convince a
>> broken configure script to do the right thing :)
>
> Not broken, just "optimistic".

As opposed to the state of its users I guess

-- A