depends_build

[Ryan Schmidt]

On Aug 16, 2011, at 23:17, Mark Brethen wrote:

> When is the depends_build keyword necessary?

Build dependencies are necessary when they're necessary, of course. :) Same as library, runtime, fetch, and extract dependencies. The documentation of the software you're creating a portfile for should tell you what the requirements are. If not, reading the makefiles, consulting the developers or other support forum, or trial and error should get you there.

> For example, the reduce-algebra build doc has this:
> 
> GNU make (other versions of "make" are not liable to work), autoconf
>      and automake. Well you can probably survive without having autoconf
>      and automake, but if you have them you should use a reasonably up to
>      date version.
>  For CSL you need a C/C++ development context.
> 
> These are common. Is it necessary to include them in a depends_build statement?

If reduce-algebra's build system calls autoconf or automake, then you should declare dependencies on them. If it does not, then you should not.

Mac OS X (well, Xcode) has BSD make. If that does not work, and GNU make is truly required, then you should declare a build dependency on gmake (and coerce the software to build with gmake and not make, probably by setting build.cmd to ${prefix}/bin/gmake).