Dynamically linking with a Unix library - or not

[Shachar Shemesh]

Hi WINE-devel list (cross posted to Linux-IL),

After a lively discussion in the Israeli Linux users mailing list, it 
appears that the best solution will be to give a command line (or 
config) option to use an external library (fribidi) for the RTL 
rendering. I would still implement this internally, as the extrenal 
library is more Unicode and less Windows complient, but that's besides 
the point.

Adding a ./configure option to do so would probably be quite feasable (I 
don't know how to do it at the moment, but I am sure that will not be 
the disqualifying factor), but I have been quite hesitant to go that way 
until now, for the following reasons:
A. Fribidi will have to be present during building WINE. That, in 
itself, is not a majour obstacle, but
B. Having Fribidi present during compile will add Fribidi to the WINE 
dependancies.

I am afraid that the consequence of B will be that no packager in his 
right mind will use that option. As that works in direct contradiction 
to the reason I entered the WINE project to begin with, I am trying to 
opt for a better solution. I'm seeing two possible solutions to this 
problem:
A. If Fribidi was present during compile, check for its existance during 
run time. If not present, don't enable the run time option.
or
B. Copy (port?) Fribidi into the WINE code. It's LGPL, so the license 
does allow that.

The consequence of B is that I will need to keep an eye on Fribidi, and 
keep it up to date whenever something changes there. I am very reluctant 
to do so. I would much rather go for the "A" solution. The problem is 
that I know how to do this in Windows, but not in Linux. Any help anyone 
can offer me?

                Shachar