The GNU Build System
1 Goals
Portable Packages
Uniform Builds
2 Package Use Cases
The User Point of View
The Power User Point of View
The Packager Point of View
The Maintainer Point of View
3 The configure Process
4 Why We Need Tools

Goals
Portable Packages
Uniform Builds
2 Package Use Cases
The User Point of View
The Power User Point of View
The Packager Point of View
The Maintainer Point of View
3 The configure Process
4 Why We Need Tools

Consider C functions...
that do not exist everywhere (e.g., strtod())
that have different names (e.g., strchr() vs. index())
that have varying prototypes
(e.g., int setpgrp(void); vs. int setpgrp(int, int);)
that can behave differently (e.g., malloc(0);)
that might require other libraries
(is pow() in libm.so or in libc.so?)
that can be defined in different headers
(string.h vs. strings.h vs. memory.h)
How should a package deal with those?