Re: [PATCH] macos: do let the build find the gettext headers/libraries/msgfmt

[Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com>]

On Thu, Apr 23, 2020 at 3:54 AM Johannes Schindelin via GitGitGadget
<gitgitgadget@gmail.com> wrote:
> Apparently a recent Homebrew update now installs `gettext` into a
> subdirectory under /usr/local/, requiring the CFLAGS/LDFLAGS to list
> explicit directories _even_ when asking to force-link the `gettext`
> package.
>
> Likewise, the `msgfmt` tool is no longer in the `PATH`.

Interesting. I wonder if this is indeed a recent Homebrew change or if
something changed elsewhere in the environment. I ask because...

> Signed-off-by: Johannes Schindelin <johannes.schindelin@gmx.de>
> ---
> diff --git a/config.mak.uname b/config.mak.uname
> @@ -133,8 +133,11 @@ ifeq ($(uname_S),Darwin)
> -       BASIC_CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include
> -       BASIC_LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib
> +       BASIC_CFLAGS += -I/usr/local/include -I/usr/local/opt/gettext/include
> +       BASIC_LDFLAGS += -L/usr/local/lib -L/usr/local/opt/gettext/lib
> +       ifeq ($(shell test -x /usr/local/opt/gettext/bin/msgfmt && echo y),y)
> +               MSGFMT = /usr/local/opt/gettext/bin/msgfmt
> +       endif

... I've needed these assignments in my local config.mak file ever
since I switched over to Homebrew from Macports (which installed
everything under top-level /opt) years ago.

I'm slightly leery of seeing these applied globally on Mac OS in
config.mak.uname since various package managers on Mac OS install
packages in wildly different locations, and these settings might cause
the wrong version of a package to be picked up if a user has a
preferred version installed elsewhere.

Would it be an alternative for the CI/PR build process to just create
a local customized config.mak rather than patching the
globally-applied config.mak.uname like this?