Why ar doesn't call ranlib on Mac?

[Alexy Khrabrov]

Peter -- you are right:

On Mon, Mar 9, 2009 at 9:59 AM, Peter O'Gorman <peter at pogma.com> wrote:
> ...
> If you find that ranlib is indeed not being run on 10.5 (as I said, I
> can not currently check 10.5), then ensure that your COMMAND_MODE
> environment variable is unset and file a bug at
> http://bugreporter.apple.com.
>
> (btw, a quick way to check if ranlib has been run is to check for a
> __SYMDEF SORTED file in the archive with ar t).

This was a good way to learn about COMMAND_MODE -- that was what the
strange get_unix_standard_mode() did in that code.  For some reason my
zsh sets COMMAND_MODE to "legacy", although I can't find where yet.
Since that's my shell and is not so common for others, I was getting
on the bad old ranlib-less side of ar where many others were getting
the good behavior from it.

But, recompiling Apple's stuff felt refreshing -- and the size shrinks
to 1/2 as I don't need universal on Intel.  So I wonder about
recompiling all of it.  Can we have MacPorts do Apple?  :)

Cheers,
Alexy