Totally lost

[Erik Norgaard]

Mário Gamito wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> When i install FreeBSD 5.3, libtool, automake and autoconf don't get 
> installed.
> 
> I upgrade the ports.
> After that is the total confusion.
> 
> One program wants libtools version x, another, y ando so on.
> Some thing to automake and autoconf.
> 
> How do i solve this mess ?

FreeBSD is cool enough to allow multiple versions of libtool and 
autoconf etc to be installed, just as you can have multiple versions of 
Perl. By default one version is used, but the others are used if you 
specify the version extension,

eg. on my system, /usr/local/bin/autoconf is version 2.53, while I can 
get 2.59 or 2.13 by calling autoconf259 autoconf213 respectively, 
similar for the other autotools and libtool.

Obviously, there is a reason for having multiple versions installed, 
namely because some ports still relies on old versions, while others 
requires features in new experimental versions. Unless the developers 
settle on one version of these tools, you will have multiple versions 
installed.

If it really annoys you to see that they are there, they are AFAIK only 
used for compiling, linking etc. so once you have installed your system 
you can deinstall these programs.

But, there is no need to, and they will be reinstalled when you try to 
upgrade your ports. It should only bother you if you are trying to write 
your own ports, or are doing other development.

Cheers, Erik

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