Re: PIC and libiberty

[Jim Blandy <jimb at redhat dot com>]

Ian Lance Taylor <ian@airs.com> writes:

> Jim Blandy <jimb@redhat.com> writes:
> 
> > I've read through the threads in December regarding H.J.'s attempt to
> > use libtool in libiberty.  It's too bad it didn't work out.
> > 
> > However, I didn't find a rationale for this:
> > 
> >     2004-12-25  David Edelsohn  <edelsohn@gnu.org>
> > 
> >             Revert 2004-12-08 Makefile changes.
> > 
> > and I didn't see a rationale for why H.J.'s original patch wasn't then
> > acceptable to commit.  Granted, it would be nicer to use libtool (as
> > DJ originally suggested), but since that approach has been tried and
> > dropped, shouldn't we at least make the more conservative change
> > H.J. originally proposed?
> 
> To which one of H.J.'s patches are you referring?
> 
> There is this one:
>     http://sources.redhat.com/ml/binutils/2004-12/msg00202.html
> but it was only required because of the change which David Edelsohn
> checked in (with my approval) and then reverted.
> 
> The reversion patch message was here:
>     http://gcc.gnu.org/ml/gcc-patches/2004-12/msg01926.html
> 
> David Edelsohn's patch was based on a bug report from Steve Ellcey,
> but Steve's real problem turned out to be that he was using an old
> version of make.

I think I was referring to the first.  Perhaps it is the reversion of
David's patch that I'm asking about.

> > I ask because CGEN-generated CPU components for SID depend on
> > libiberty, and they are shared libraries.  So right now those
> > components are broken in SID, because they can't find PIC object
> > files for libiberty.
> 
> None of the patches referenced above would fix that.
> 
> Is the problem that there are no PIC object files for libiberty (they
> would be in the object directory libiberty/pic)?  Or is the problem
> that they do exist, but that the SID build procedure can't find them?

Several things suspiciously fail to conspire to produce PIC files in
libiberty:

- The host makefile fragment for Linux (if there is one at all?)
  doesn't set PICFLAG.

- The top-level makefile doesn't propagate its value of PICFLAG to
  subconfigures or submakes.

- libiberty/configure.ac wouldn't do anything with a value for PICFLAG
  that was passed to it.

- Libiberty/Makefile.in doesn't have the @cookie@ in the assignment to
  PICFLAG, so it'll never get a non-empty value.

- And, as you suggest, SID wouldn't actually find them in the pic
  subdir if it did exist.  But I'm happy to fix that myself.

What I'm getting at is, I don't think there have been any pic files in
libiberty for some time.