Hi everybody,

I'm having trouble understanding how to use the mkmf module properly,
especially in conjunction with autoconf / automake.

I would like to use extconf.rb to generate the Makefile in my ext/
directory, but there are problems.  For instance, the generated Makefile
does not support the check: target, and so when somebody types
make check
at the top of my source tree it fails when recursively doing make check's
in each of the subdirs because there is no such target in the ext/ directory.
Another problem is how to pass on options like
../configure --prefix $HOME/mystuff/installpath
What is the "accepted" way to handle installation-directory overrides like
this using mkmf.rb?  What about an override of the CC for cross-compilation?
So far, what I've done is run extconf.rb and then edited the resulting
Makefile, surely there is a better way?

Any pointers to good examples of a combination autoconf / automake / extconf.rb
that supports the features above would be greatly appreciated.  I would also
appreciate any doc pointers.  Cheers,

Rudi


-- 
Rudi Cilibrasi
Machine Learning Researcher
http://www.cwi.nl/~cilibrar/