R devel - Apr 2006 - R-Project build system: DESTDIR support

Hello,

we had a quick exchange some time ago about putting
DESTDIR support in R-Project.

DESTDIR is not meant for run-time relocation, but for
staged installation.
An already configured package can be installed to a
temporary destination, with all information,
hard-coded paths, or even run-time relocation code
referring to the final destination.

In attachment you'll find a p1 (and p2, for that
matter) patch in unified format that adds DESTDIR
support to R-Project.
It's made against 2.2.1.

To apply it and study/test it, please try as a regular
(unprivileged) user:

$ cd R-2.2.1           # (top_srcdir)
$ patch -p1 < R-2.2.1-DESTDIR_support.p1.udiff
$ ./configure --prefix=${HOME}/usr
$ make
$ make install DESTDIR=${HOME}/install-destdir

what happens is that an installation finally intended
for /home/username/usr (we install in user mode to
prevent problems and encourage testing) is offset, at
installation time, to a temporary location, namely
${HOME}/install-destdir.

If you find ~/install-destdir, you'll see that that
directory contains in itself a whole snapshot of the
installation.

The temporary installation is non-functional.
Its hard-coded path information in _any form_ refers
to the final destination.

Now try (supposing you do not have an existing
${HOME}/usr):

$ mv ${HOME}/install-destdir/${HOME}/usr ${HOME}/usr

The preceeding command is enough to change a temporary
installation to a fully functional installation.

This is why DESTDIR cannot be placed in rhome itself,
in prefix, or any other variable.

Please consider it for inclusion, or ask me any other
question about it.

Note that the patch does not contain a ChangeLog
entry, since R-2.2.1 does not seem to have a
ChangeLog. If you need one, the info is something
like:

2006-04-07  Claudio Fontana  <claudio at gnu.org>
        * Makefile.in (install, uninstall): add
          DESTDIR variable to support staged
          installations.

        * po/Makefile.in.in,
          doc/html/Makefile.in,
          doc/html/search/Makefile.in,
          doc/Makefile.in,
          doc/manual/Makefile.in,
          etc/Makefile.in,
          src/main/Makefile.in,
          src/nmath/standalone/Makefile.in,
          src/scripts/Makefile.in,
          src/library/Makefile.in,
          src/modules/X11/Makefile.in,
          src/modules/Makefile.in,
          src/modules/lapack/Makefile.in,
          src/modules/vfonts/Makefile.in,
          src/modules/internet/Makefile.in,
          src/include/R_ext/Makefile.in,
          src/include/Makefile.in,
          share/Makefile.in: likewise.

References for DESTDIR:

GNU coding standards:
http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/

GNU automake manual [in case you decide to move to am]
http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html

I could not test --enable-R-framework because I do not
have access to a darwin machine.

Thanks,

Claudio



	

	
		
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