Build(fstrcmp)

NAME
How to build fstrcmp

SPACE REQUIREMENTS
You will need about 3MB to unpack and build the fstrcmp package. Your milage may vary.

BEFORE YOU START
There are a few pieces of software you may want to fetch and install before you proceed with your installation of fstrcmp

GNU libtool
    The libtool program is used to build shared libraries. It understands neccesary weird and wonderful compiler and linker tricks on many weird and wonderful systems.
    http://www.gnu.org/software/libtool/

GNU Groff
    The documentation for the fstrcmp package was prepared using the GNU Groff package (version 1.14 or later). This distribution includes full documentation, which may be processed into PostScript or DVI files at install time - if GNU Groff has been installed.

GCC You may also want to consider fetching and installing the GNU C Compiler if you have not done so already. This is not essential. The fstrcmp program was developed using the GNU C compiler.

The GNU FTP archives may be found at ftp.gnu.org, and are mirrored around the world.

SITE CONFIGURATION
The fstrcmp package is configured using the configure program included in the source distribution.

The configure shell script attempts to guess correct values for various system-dependent variables used during compilation, and creates the Makefile and lib/config.h files. It also creates a shell script config.status that you can run in the future to recreate the current configuration.

Normally, you just cd to the directory containing fstrcmp's source code and then type
    % ./configure
    ...lots of output...
    %
If you're using csh on an old version of System V, you might need to type
    % sh configure
    ...lots of output...
    %
instead, to prevent csh from trying to execute configure itself.

Running configure takes a minute or two. While it is running, it prints some messages that tell what it is doing. If you don't want to see the messages, run configure using the quiet option; for example,
    % ./configure --quiet

To compile the fstrcmp package in a different directory from the one containing the source code, you must use a version of make that supports the VPATH variable, such as GNU make. Then cd to the directory where you want the object files and executables to go and run the configure script. The configure script automatically checks for the source code in the directory that configure is in and in .. (the parent directory). If for some reason configure is not in the source code directory that you are configuring, then it will report that it can't find the source code. In that case, run configure with the option --srcdir=DIR, where DIR is the directory that contains the source code.

By default, configure will arrange for the make install command to install the fstrcmp package's files in /usr/local/bin, /usr/local/lib, /usr/local/include, and /usr/local/man. There are options which allow you to control the placement of these files.

--prefix=PATH
    This specifies the path prefix to be used in the installation. Defaults to /usr/local unless otherwise specified.

--exec-prefix=PATH
    You can specify separate installation prefixes for architecture-specific files files. Defaults to ${prefix} unless otherwise specified.

--bindir=PATH
    This directory contains executable programs. On a network, this directory may be shared between machines with identical hardware and operating systems; it may be mounted read-only. Defaults to ${exec_prefix}/bin unless otherwise specified.

--mandir=PATH
    This directory contains the on-line manual entries. On a network, this directory may be shared between all machines; it may be mounted read-only. Defaults to ${prefix}/man unless otherwise specified.

The configure script ignores most other arguments that you give it; use the --help option for a complete list.

On systems that require unusual options for compilation or linking that the fstrcmp package's configure script does not know about, you can give configure initial values for variables by setting them in the environment. In Bourne-compatible shells, you can do that on the command line like this:
    $ CXX='gcc -traditional' LIBS=-lposix ./configure
    ...lots of output...
    $
Here are the make variables that you might want to override with environment variables when running the configure script:

Variable: CC
    C compiler program. The default is cc.

Variable: CPPFLAGS
    Preprocessor flags, commonly defines and include search paths. Defaults to empty. It is common to use CPPFLAGS=-I/usr/local/include to access other installed packages.

Variable: INSTALL
    Program to use to install files. The default is install if you have it, cp otherwise.

Variable: LIBS
    Libraries to link with, in the form -lfoo -lbar. The configure script will append to this, rather than replace it. It is common to use LIBS=-L/usr/local/lib to access other installed packages.

If you need to do unusual things to compile the package, the author encourages you to figure out how the configure script could check whether to do them, and mail diffs or instructions to the author so that they can be included in the next release.

BUILDING FSTRCMP
All you should need to do is use the
    % make
    ...lots of output...
    %
command and wait.

You can remove the program binaries and object files from the source directory by using the
    % make clean
    ...lots of output...
    %
command. To remove all of the above files, and also remove the Makefile and lib/config.h and config.status files, use the
    % make distclean
    ...lots of output...
    %
command.

The file etc/configure.ac is used to create configure by a GNU program called autoconf. You only need to know this if you want to regenerate configure using a newer version of autoconf.

TESTING FSTRCMP
The fstrcmp package comes with a test suite. To run this test suite, use the command
    % make sure
    ...lots of output...
    Passed All Tests
    %

The tests take a fraction of a second each, with most very fast, and a couple very slow, but it varies greatly depending on your CPU.

If all went well, the message
    Passed All Tests
should appear at the end of the make.

INSTALLING FSTRCMP
As explained in the SITE CONFIGURATION section, above, the fstrcmp package is installed under the /usr/local tree by default. Use the --prefix=PATH option to configure if you want some other path. More specific installation locations are assignable, use the --help option to the configure script for details.

All that is required to install the fstrcmp package is to use the
    % make install
    ...lots of output...
    %
command. Control of the directories used may be found in the first few lines of the Makefile file and the other files written by the configure script; it is best to reconfigure using the configure script, rather than attempting to do this by hand.

GETTING HELP
If you need assistance with the fstrcmp package, please do not hesitate to contact the author at
    Peter Miller <pmiller@opensource.org.au>
Any and all feedback is welcome.

When reporting problems, please include the version number given by the
    % explain -version
    explain version
    ...warranty disclaimer...
    %
command. Please do not send this example; run the program for the exact version number.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

It should be in the LICENSE file included in the source distribution.