> I'd like to implement *something* to help us collect information on what
> platforms actually have what features. This would be useful, for
> example, for figuring out whether any platforms are lacking 8 byte
> integers or are missing timezone infrastructure.
>
> I was thinking about something like "make report" which would mail the
> results of ./configure to, say, the ports mailing list. We could mention
> it in the text message printed at the end of the make cycle.
>
> Comments? Suggestions?
Suggestion: Why not embed this information into the binary, and provide some
way of extracting it.
(There's a Linux kernel option that allows something similar, so it wouldn't
be something unprecedented.)
If all the config information is embedded in the binary, automatically, at
compile time, then this allows the ability to be _certain_ that:
- "Oh, that was compiled with a really stupid set of compiler options; you'll
have to recompile!"
- "That was compiled without support for FOO, but with support for BAR."
- "Announcement, people: Look out for whether or not your distribution
compiled PostgreSQL with proper support for 64 bit integers. Several
distributions got this wrong with the 7.4.17 release, and you can see if it's
OK by looking for LONG_LONG_REVISED in the embedded configuration information."
[Downside: "Announcement, script kiddies: If you find option
UPDATE_DESCR_TABS=1 in the configuration information, then there's a very easy
root exploit..."]
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