Chapter 5 GCC - what is the --libexecdir switch for?

[chris@…]

Chap. 5 GCC (both Pass 1 and Pass 2) have --libexecdir=/tools/lib in the configure command. There really isn't any obvious reason why it should be there

• it should not matter where the libexecdir is (as long as it's in /tools of

course) for a temporary build environment. There is no explanation in the book as to why it's there, and I can't find any explanation for it by searching through the mailing lists. This option should either be explained in the GCC Pass 1 section, or removed.

[chris@…]

OK, it's been mentioned in IRC that the likely reason for adding --libexecdir to gcc installation is due to adding FHS compliance (of course as I said this shouldn't matter for a temp. build environment, but the book *does* suggest keeping /tools around). If the switch is to be kept, then it needs to be documented in the "Command explanations" section, and (for consistency), the option should be added to configure for findutils, gawk, glibc, and tar, which also place files into /tools/libexec.

[Matthew Burgess]

This is somewhat related to bug 1644. It'd certainly be easier to just omit that switch from chapter 5's GCC. /tools itself isn't exactly FHS compliant is it? :-) Therefore using a specific --libexec dir is pretty much futile, IMO.