On 2004-03-10 at 17:17 +0100, Nico Erfurth wrote:
> But that brings up another question (for me). Using autoconf or not?
*scream!*
Please $deity no!
Exim's current system is solid and reliable. It works well. It doesn't
have scripts generating scripts used to generate files, all taking twice
as long as the actual compilation itself. It doesn't use slow script
techniques to work around some bug in a 15 year old version of sh
shipped once by some vendor who, despite whatever their official
position might be, isn't really supporting it. Exim's code is small and
understandable; autoconf is bloated and, as shown in the past year, a
candidate for insertion of trojans, since "configure" will be a large
shell script not reviewed by sane humans.
As someone who's added local hacks to Exim, and local hacks to an
autoconf program, I fervently beg that Exim stick to its current
configuration system.
--
Phil Pennock, Senior Systems Administrator, Demon Internet Netherlands
NL Sales: +31 20 422 20 00 Thus Plc NL Support: 0800 33 6666 8
