> -----Original Message-----
> From: Dann Corbit 
> Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2004 10:34 AM
> To: Tom Lane
> Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
> Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Small suggestion on build script 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us]
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2004 10:55 PM
> > To: Dann Corbit
> > Cc: pgsql-hackers@postgresql.org
> > Subject: Re: [HACKERS] Small suggestion on build script 
> > 
> > 
> > "Dann Corbit" <DCorbit@connx.com> writes:
> > > I would like to suggest changing the symlinks to copy commands:
> > 
> > That would cause make to fail to handle update dependencies
> > on the linked files.
> 
> An unconditional copy will cause no breakage.  It's not a big 
> deal, I can always edit the files by hand.  Or I can write a 
> sed script that fixes it automatically.
>  
> > > The reason is that under Mingw, I get random failures with the
> > > symlinks
> > 
> > This is the worst sort of Microsoft imperialism that I hoped
> > we'd not be succumbing to by having a Windows port :-(.  "If 
> > it doesn't work on Windows then the rest of you have to give 
> > up functionality."  How about filing a bug report against the 
> > Mingw breakage, instead of expecting us to try to work around it?
> 
> The problem has nothing to do with Microsoft imperialism.  
> Microsoft has no connection to Mingw, it is an independent tool set.
> 
> Filing the bug report is a good idea.

The response from the Mingw team:
>Comment By: Earnie Boyd (earnie)
Date: 2004-04-08 07:33

Message:
Logged In: YES 
user_id=15438

Symbolic links to files and directories do not work on Win32
in general.  Support for symlink operation is limited to the source
directory or file existing and being able to copy the source to the
destination.

You will need to modify the package to do the appropriate
thing for the environment.

Earnie

Thu, 8 Apr 2004 14:01:16 -0700
"Dann Corbit" <DCorbit@connx.com>
Re: Small suggestion on build script 
"Dann Corbit" <DCorbit@connx.com> writes:
> The response from the Mingw team:

>> Symbolic links to files and directories do not work on Win32
>> in general.  Support for symlink operation is limited to the source
>> directory or file existing and being able to copy the source to the
>> destination.

The source does exist, and they should be able to copy it to the
destination, and they do manage to do so much of the time.  I think
you failed to convey the critical point, which is that they randomly
fail to do what they claim to be able to do.

			regards, tom lane

Fri, 09 Apr 2004 01:11:04 -0400
Tom Lane <tgl@sss.pgh.pa.us>
Re: Small suggestion on build script 
Tom Lane said:
> "Dann Corbit" <DCorbit@connx.com> writes:
>> The response from the Mingw team:
>
>>> Symbolic links to files and directories do not work on Win32
>>> in general.  Support for symlink operation is limited to the source
>>> directory or file existing and being able to copy the source to the
>>> destination.
>
> The source does exist, and they should be able to copy it to the
> destination, and they do manage to do so much of the time.  I think you
> failed to convey the critical point, which is that they randomly fail
> to do what they claim to be able to do.
>
>

I had a couple of thoughts about ways of dealing with this problem in an
acceptable way:
1. make the symlinking more robust by doing it in a loop until it
succeeeds - surely we can test for that rather than just assuming it has
succeeded.
2. or instead of symlinking or making a lasting copy, make the dependency
back to the real file location and the corresponding compile action would
be copy/compile/delete copy.

cheers

andrew



Fri, 9 Apr 2004 06:38:30 -0400 (EDT)
"Andrew Dunstan" <andrew@dunslane.net>
Re: Small suggestion on build script
Dann Corbit wrote:
> The response from the Mingw team:
> >Comment By: Earnie Boyd (earnie)
>
> Date: 2004-04-08 07:33
>
> Message:
> Logged In: YES
> user_id=15438
>
> Symbolic links to files and directories do not work on Win32
> in general.  Support for symlink operation is limited to the source
> directory or file existing and being able to copy the source to the
> destination.
>
> You will need to modify the package to do the appropriate
> thing for the environment.

This is not something we should have to solve locally.  Autoconf is 
supposed to do the right thing on platforms that don't support 
symlinks.  I know Earnie Boyd has been doing a lot of work to get 
autoconfiscated packages to build smoothly on MinGW.  Maybe you could 
try a later Autoconf version or convince the MinGW people to improve 
Autoconf?

Then again, I still hear that the failures occur "randomly", which 
deserves a different kind of investigation.


Mon, 12 Apr 2004 19:38:23 +0200
Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net>
Re: Small suggestion on build script