Tk lib build doesn't look in the Tcl build directory

[Phil Edwards <phil at jaj dot com>]

Trying to build CVS GDB.  It fails in the tk stage with (command wrapped):

rm -f libtk8.3.so
gcc -pipe -shared -o libtk8.3.so [a gazillion object files] 
   -Wl,-rpath,/home/pme/build/install-2002-07-14/lib:/usr/X11R6/lib
   -L/home/pme/build/install-2002-07-14/lib -ltclstub8.3 -L/usr/X11R6/lib
   -lX11 -ldl -lieee -lm -lc
/usr/bin/ld: cannot find -ltclstub8.3
collect2: ld returned 1 exit status
gmake[2]: *** [libtk8.3.so] Error 1
gmake[2]: Leaving directory `/home/pme/build/build-2002-07-14/tk/unix'

Looking in the generated Makefile, I see the rule being fired is

${TK_LIB_FILE}: ${OBJS}
        rm -f ${TK_LIB_FILE}
        ${SHLIB_LD} -o ${TK_LIB_FILE} ${OBJS} $(TK_LD_SEARCH_FLAGS) -L/home/pme/build/install-2002-07-14/lib -ltclstub8.3${TCL_DBGX} ${LIBS}
        @case ${TK_LIB_FILE} in *.a) $(TK_RANLIB) ${TK_LIB_FILE};; esac

Okay, that's obvious enough.  The -l is being given, but not the correct
-L, since tcl hasn't been installed yet (the tree is still building).
Where is this line generated from?  The tk/unix/Makefile.in has the entire
line written as @MAKE_LIB@.

This in turn is set in tk/unix/configure.in with

    MAKE_LIB="\${SHLIB_LD} -o \${TK_LIB_FILE} \${OBJS} \$(TK_LD_SEARCH_FLAGS) ${TCL_STUB_LIB_SPEC} \${LIBS}"

so the "-L$prefix/lib -ltclstub8.3" is clearly the expansion of
TCL_STUB_LIB_SPEC.  However, this variable seems to be set in some other
tclConfig file, and that's as far as I got before giving up.


Am I the only one seeing this?  It would seem that the Tk build requires
all the Tcl stuff to have been /installed/, not just built, before it itself
can build.  Perhaps the majority (totality?) of the developers already have
a Tcl installation somewhere in the default paths searched by the linker?


Phil

-- 
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater
than the animating contest for freedom, go home and leave us in peace.  We seek
not your counsel, nor your arms.  Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you;
and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.            - Samuel Adams