Bug 33611

Summary:	odd build mechanism (why 'download' stage ?)
Product:	LibreOffice	Reporter:	Sergei Steshenko <sergstesh>
Component:	Installation	Assignee:	Not Assigned <libreoffice-bugs>
Status:	RESOLVED NOTABUG
Severity:	normal
Priority:	medium
Version:	3.3.0 release
Hardware:	Other
OS:	All
Whiteboard:
Crash report or crash signature:		Regression By:

Description Sergei Steshenko 2011-01-27 10:46:12 UTC

On the one hand, 'libreoffice' uses 'configure' and 'make', on the other, there is that strange 'download' stage to be run manually.

I do not see any good reason for the 'download' stage to not be part of 'make' targets run automatically, so 'libreoffice' will have a normal GNU toolchain flow.

Comment 1 Don't use this account, use tml@iki.fi 2011-01-31 04:13:32 UTC

Well, the use of a configure script and make might make it appear to be somewhat "normal", but the likeness is very superficial. There is not "normal" config.h generated by the configure script, for instance, and the Makefile is very minimal and just starts the actual build mechanism which is far from "normal". For instance, the own dmake program is used (not to be confused with other programs also called dmake), not a normal make.

Sorry, that is just how it is. Historical reasons etc.

That said, there *is* work going on (in OOo, and also followed closely in LibreOffice) to switch to using GNU Make. But it will still be quite different from typical GNU toolchain -using much smaller projects. And that is not really surprising considering the size and history of LibreOffice.

I don't think it is worth keeping this bug open, this is a not a "bug" in the sense of user-visible problem, it is just a fact that the build mechanism is "odd";) And work is going on to improve the build mechanism. I will leave it to the reporter to resolve this bug report, though...

Comment 2 Björn Michaelsen 2011-12-23 11:45:30 UTC

[This is an automated message.]
This bug was filed before the changes to Bugzilla on 2011-10-16. Thus it
started right out as NEW without ever being explicitly confirmed. The bug is
changed to state NEEDINFO for this reason. To move this bug from NEEDINFO back
to NEW please check if the bug still persists with the 3.5.0 beta1 or beta2 prereleases.
Details on how to test the 3.5.0 beta1 can be found at:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/QA/BugHunting_Session_3.5.0.-1

more detail on this bulk operation: http://nabble.documentfoundation.org/RFC-Operation-Spamzilla-tp3607474p3607474.html