R-alpha: Can we "require" 1) GNU make, 2) Perl -- for help "compiling"?

[Thomas Lumley]

On Mon, 25 Aug 1997, Martin Maechler wrote:
> 1) I am trying to `replace' the current scheme of
> 	make install-help
> 	make install-latex
> 	make install-html
> 	make test-Examples	which just calls  shell script in RHOME/etc
> 
>    by a scheme that uses proper dependencies and only
>    rebuilds things when and where they have changed.

Yes, yes !!
 
>    Currently, I believe that this would be much easier / nicer  if I could
>    require  GNU make  (which all Linuxers have anyway) for doing these.
>    I could then use things such as  $(shell: ...)   $(wildcard: ...), etc.
> 
>  Is this ok with all of you?

We tend to have GNU tools available on machines here, even under
SunOS/Solaris.  I don't know common this is.

> 
> 2) Even more extreme: Can we require  __Perl__ to be available for most
>    (for all who want to build  help/html/tex files themselves)?


I actually think requiring Perl is less extreme than requiring GNU make.
Perl is useful for so many things (eg CGI scripts) that almost everyone
has it.  There must be quite a lot of people who rely on the make that
comes with their system, though.


Thomas Lumley
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