[Hackage] #262: Check for required C libraries during configure

[Hackage]

#262: Check for required C libraries during configure
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  Reporter:  guest          |        Owner:                 
      Type:  enhancement    |       Status:  new            
  Priority:  high           |    Milestone:  Cabal-1.6      
 Component:  Cabal library  |      Version:  1.2.3.0        
  Severity:  normal         |   Resolution:                 
  Keywords:                 |   Difficulty:  easy (<4 hours)
Ghcversion:  6.8.2          |     Platform:                 
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Comment (by alexeevg):

 > we should look up exactly how autoconf does these checks

 I started looking into it and stumbled upon a little problem. Maybe it's a
 silly question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. Autoconf uses AC_CHECK_LIB
 macro to check if the library is present. AC_CHECK_LIB takes the library
 name and a function(symbol) name that is expected to be exported from the
 library, generates a C program depending on this symbol and tries
 compiling it. This is a bit of info we miss in BuildInfo - we have extra-
 libs, but no function names.

 > Error messages should be helpful for the typical Cabal user, who should
 not be assumed to know > anything about C libraries or linking.

 This is a bit unclear to me - we have no info on required packages, we
 have only includes/extra-libs, how do we make error messages user-
 friendly? Autoconf doesn't do it.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://hackage.haskell.org/trac/hackage/ticket/262#comment:9>
Hackage <http://haskell.org/cabal/>
Hackage: Cabal and related projects