Company
Date Published
Author
Trond Norbye, Senior Developer, Couchbase
Word count
430
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

The author discusses their efforts to simplify the process for developers to compile and install Membase by enhancing the build system with automake. They express a preference for focusing on coding rather than on manual build configurations and aim to avoid cluttering the /bin directory with library files. To address this, the author devises a strategy to package Python components more effectively, integrating a wrapper script into an automake-generated makefile to manage the PYTHONPATH variable. After consulting the automake manual, they find a straightforward solution and share their approach in a blog post. The solution involves updating the configure.ac file to generate a wrapper script, defining rules in Makefile.am to generate necessary scripts, and organizing Python files into a designated directory. They detail the creation of a "pythonlibdir" to house Python files, ensuring the execute bit is set for certain scripts, thereby streamlining the installation process.