libtool and .la files

[David Yeske]

I wanted to bring this up again because I feel there
is no consensus on how to deal with .la files.
I have heard many suggestions, but none of them
seem to address the problem.

I'll go through a couple of scenarios.

If a port uses the libtool that is in 
/usr/local/bin like this by modifying configure

"s|^LIBTOOL=.+$$|LIBTOOL=\'\$$\{SHELL\} ${LOCALBASE}/bin/libtool\'|"

then install_ltlibs=yes is set and the .la files
are installed.

If a port applies a patch similar to this
to configure, but does not use the libtool
in /usr/local/bin

 # This can be used to rebuild libtool when needed
 LIBTOOL_DEPS="$ac_aux_dir/ltmain.sh"
+$ac_aux_dir/ltconfig $LIBTOOL_DEPS

then a local libtool is rebuilt in the directory of
the port.

When I rebuild the local libtool file,
it seems to usually have these differences
between the /usr/local/bin/libtool

-#   ./ltconfig --cache-file=./config.cache --with-gcc --with-gnu-ld --enable-dlopen --srcdir=.
--output=libtool ./ltmain.sh
+#   /usr/local/share/libtool/ltconfig --disable-ltlibs /usr/local/share/libtool/ltmain.sh

-install_ltlibs=yes 
+install_ltlibs=no

Does this mean I should rebuild my local libtool
file any time I want to not have the .la files?

Should the libtool in /usr/local/bin be setting
install_ltlibs=no instead of yes?

Is it suggested to always rebuild the local
libtool file for a port?

Is it suggested to always use the libtool
in /usr/local/bin?

Would it be a good idea to put a knob on the install_ltlibs
option in /usr/local/bin/libtool that each port could
turn on or off depending on if that port actually
needed the .la files?  That would provide more
flexibility and consistent use of libtool.

Regards,
David Yeske

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