Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] Makefile: not use mismatched curl_config to check version

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 01 Feb 2023 10:06:41 -0800

Jiang Xin <[email-masked]> writes:

> From: Jiang Xin <[email-masked]>
>
> We may install different versions of curl, E.g.:
>
>  * A system default curl, which version is below 7.34.0, is installed
>    in "/usr", and the "curl_config" program is located in "/usr/bin/".
>
>  * A higher version of curl is installed in "/opt/git/embedded/", and
>    the "curl_config" program is located in "/opt/git/embedded/bin/".
> ...
> diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
> index 45bd6ac9c3..f4eaf22523 100644
> --- a/Makefile
> +++ b/Makefile
> @@ -1597,6 +1597,7 @@ else
>  		# Try "-Wl,-rpath=$(CURLDIR)/$(lib)" in such a case.
>  		CURL_CFLAGS = -I$(CURLDIR)/include
>  		CURL_LIBCURL = -L$(CURLDIR)/$(lib) $(CC_LD_DYNPATH)$(CURLDIR)/$(lib)
> +		CURL_CONFIG := $(CURLDIR)/bin/$(CURL_CONFIG)
>  	else
>  		CURL_CFLAGS =
>  		CURL_LIBCURL =

The above is inside "ifdef CURLDIR/else/endif".  Is the assumption
here that any and all installation of cURL that needs CURLDIR
specified should have CURL_CONFIG binary under $(CURLDIR)/bin?

What does this patch do to folks who know the exact location of the
curl-config binary and have been using CURL_CONFIG from the command
line or in config.mak to point at it?  Doesn't the above break their
working set-up?

For that matter, if you do want to use a specific curl-config binary,
can't you use the existing mechanism to set CURL_CONFIG to the path,
which was invented for this exact purpose?

I am not opposed to make it more convenient but I am worried about
breaking people's working set-up with this change.