[Buildroot] [RFC] Handling gettext

[Yann E. MORIN]

Hello All!

Currently, defining dependency upon gettext is a bit convoluted:

  config BR2_PACKAGE_FOO
    select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT
    select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBINTL if BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT_IF_LOCALE

I think that packages should not have to do that in this way, because
I believe they should not have to deal with that complexity.

What I mean is, for example, should the gettext issue gains some complexity,
of is simplified, of we decide to always use a library instead of the libc's
gettext, it would mean updating all packages.

Also, it breaks my script about the _AVAILABLE sutff.

What I suggest is the following:

0) Rename the current options:

  BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT            -->  BR2_NEEDS_EXTERNAL_GETTEXT

1) Add blind options that do the conditional selects:

  config BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT
    bool
    select BR2_PACKAGE_GETTEXT if BR2_NEEDS_EXTERNAL_GETTEXT

  config BR2_NEEDS_LIBINTL
    bool
    select BR2_PACKAGE_LIBINTL if BR2_NEEDS_EXTERNAL_GETTEXT

2) simplify packages by selecting appropriate options:

  config BR2_PACKAGE_FOO
    select BR2_NEEDS_GETTEXT
    select BR2_NEEDS_LIBINTL

3) Ditto for the _IF_LOCALE variants.

4) A similar approach (that I haven't yet thought about) for the .mk file.
   Maybe something along the lines of:

  In package's .mk file:
  FOO_DEPENDENCIES += $(needs_gettext)

  In one of the infrastructure .mk files:
  needs_gettext = $(if $(BR2_NEEDS_EXTERNAL_GETTEXT),gettext)

Comments?

I was initially a bit puzzled when reading the doc, and really wondered
*why* I needed to do that in my package (remember, the huge QEMU stack
in the coming). I had to read the docs twice before I really saw where we
were going with these.

And no, updating the doc (my original issue) is not what I suggest. In
fact, the doc is pretty clear what to do and why. It's just that, in my
poor convoluted mind, I expected something much simpler than that. ;-)

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

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