Re: BUG (v1.5.6.1): ./configure missing check for zlib.h

Jakub Narebski [off-list ref] writes:

Mircea Bardac [off-list ref] writes:

quoted

$ ./configure

[...]

quoted

configure: CHECKS for header files
In file included from daemon.c:1:
cache.h:9:18: error: zlib.h: No such file or directory
make: *** [daemon.o] Error 1

(installing zlib1g-dev on Ubuntu 7.10 fixed the problem)

What should ./configure do (what ./configure for other programs
or packages do)?

If one can determine during configure time that a required library is
not found, it (IMHO) is nice to give an error message and bomb out (via
AC_MSG_ERROR).

The AC macro archive has a zlib macro which does this, as an example:

   http://autoconf-archive.cryp.to/check_zlib.html

I should note, however, that I disagree with that macro's logic in that
it `searches' for zlib if the user does not specify it.  IMO, if the
user does not give a --with option, and it doesn't work `out of the
box' (without hacking FLAGS), macros should die with an error rather
than retry with changed FLAGS.

-tom