Configure with --enable-shared by default (#881)

This is the sane thing to do for a developer's laptop or workstation.

Closes #876

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ jobs:
       fail-fast: false  # if one fails, do not cancel the other
       matrix:
         gambit-version: ['', '--with-gambit=master']
-        shared-mode: ['', '--enable-shared']
+        shared-mode: ['', '--disable-shared']
     steps:
       - uses: actions/checkout@v3
       - name: Install dependencies

README.md

@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ Installation from source is straightforward:
 ```shell
 $ git clone [email protected]:mighty-gerbils/gerbil.git
 $ cd gerbil
-$ ./configure --enable-shared # recommeded to use shared libraries for a local install
+$ ./configure
 $ make
 $ sudo make install
 ```

configure

@@ -24,7 +24,8 @@ Options understood and processed by Gerbil:
                         defaults to ${default_gambit_tag}
   --enable-march=ARCH   specify the machine architecture; it can be empty.
                         defaults to native
-  --enable-shared       use shared libraries for libgerbil and libgambit
+  --enable-shared[=no]  do (not) use shared libraries for libgerbil and libgambit
+  --disable-shared      default is to enable shared libraries
 
 Gerbil Standard Library features:
   --enable-deprecated   Enable building of deprecated packages
@@ -77,8 +78,10 @@ case $(uname) in
         ;;
 esac
 
+gerbil_shared=t
 gambit_tag="${default_gambit_tag}"
 gambit_config="${default_gambit_config}"
+gambit_shared="--enable-shared"
 
 while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
     case "$1" in
@@ -104,7 +107,13 @@ while [ $# -gt 0 ]; do
 
         --enable-shared)
             gerbil_shared=t
-            gambit_config="${gambit_config} $1"
+            gambit_shared="--enable-shared"
+            shift
+            ;;
+
+        --disable-shared|--enable-shared=no)
+            gerbil_shared=f
+            unset gambit_shared
             shift
             ;;
 
@@ -232,7 +241,7 @@ git submodule update --force || die
 
 (cd src/gambit && git fetch origin && git checkout "${gambit_tag}" && touch configure config.status) || die
 
-gambit_config="--prefix=${gerbil_prefix} --enable-march=${gambit_march} ${gambit_config}"
+gambit_config="--prefix=${gerbil_prefix} --enable-march=${gambit_march} ${gambit_shared} ${gambit_config}"
 (export LDFLAGS="$LDFLAGS"; export CFLAGS="$CFLAGS"; cd src/gambit && ./configure $gambit_config ) || die
 
 rm -f build-env.sh

doc/guide/README.md

@@ -57,12 +57,12 @@ $ ./configure && make && sudo make install
 This will install Gerbil in `/opt/gerbil`; you will need to add
 `/opt/gerbil/bin` to your PATH environment variable.
 
-It is recommended that you enable shared libraries if this is an installation for your development workstation or laptop:
+By default, the configuration will enable shared libraries, which is the sane thing to do for a development workstation or laptop. On the other hand, if you want to build statically linked binaries, you can disable shared libraries by configuring like this:
 ```bash
-$ ./configure --enable-shared && make && sudo make install
+$ ./configure --disable-shared
 ```
 
-On the other hand, if you need to override some configuration defaults,
+If you need to override some configuration defaults,
 you will have to use the following (with your own set of configuration options):
 ```bash
 $ ./configure --prefix=/path/to/which/to/install/gerbil \

doc/guide/getting-started.md

@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ $ sudo apt install libssl-dev zlib1g-dev libsqlite3-dev
 
 I usually configure Gerbil for devlopment with the following incantation:
 ```shell
-./configure --prefix=/usr/local/gerbil --enable-shared
+./configure --prefix=/usr/local/gerbil
 ```
 
 This will install Gerbil in `/usr/local/gerbil`; you should add
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ Do not use `--enable-poll` if you are on MacOS, as console polling is broken.
 :::
 
 If you intend to build static executables for servers, then you should
-remove `--enable-shared` to configure the system to use static
+add `--disable-shared` to configure the system to use static
 `libgerbil.a` and `libgambit.a` libraries.
 
 Also note, that it is _strongly_ recommended to use `gcc` as your
@@ -360,8 +360,8 @@ If you want your program to be statically linked to dependent
 libraries, so that you can ship it as a _release_, you can specify the
 `--release` flag, which may be combined with `--optimized`.
 
-Note that for release builds, your system must be configured without
-`--enable-shared` and have all foreign dependencies available as
+Note that for release builds, your system must be configured with
+`--disable-shared` and have all foreign dependencies available as
 static library archives. Of course, you can do that by maintaining a
 separate gerbil build in your system for releases, but the recommended
 way to build release binaries is by using [docker](docker.md).

doc/guide/intro.md

@@ -895,7 +895,7 @@ hello, world
 The difference between the 3 executable compilation modes can be summarized as follows:
 - By default, executable binaries are compiled with separate module compilation and link
   to the  precompiled gerbil library (`libgerbil`).
-  If the system was configured with `--enable-shared`, then this
+  If the system was configured with `--enable-shared` (the default), then this
   will be a shared library; otherwise it will be a static library archive.
   Note that the executable may have some additionl dynamic library
   dependencies from stdlib foreign code, and also links to `libgambit` which will be
@@ -922,8 +922,8 @@ The difference between the 3 executable compilation modes can be summarized as f
 #### Fully Static Binaries
 
 It is also possible to build _fully static_ binaries, provided that
-your system supports it and you haven't configured Gerbil with
-`--enable-shared`.  You can do this simply by passing the `-static`
+your system supports it and you have configured Gerbil with
+`--enable-shared=no`.  You can do this simply by passing the `-static`
 option to `gxc` or using the `static-exe:` and `optimized-static-exe:`
 specs in your build script.
 

docker/Dockerfile

@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ ARG configure_args
 ENV GERBIL_GCC=g++
 RUN cd /opt && git clone https://github.com/vyzo/gerbil gerbil-src
 RUN cd /opt/gerbil-src && git fetch -a && git fetch --tags && git checkout ${gerbil_version} \
-    && eval ./configure --prefix=/opt/gerbil ${configure_args}
+    && eval ./configure --prefix=/opt/gerbil --enable-shared=no ${configure_args}
 
 RUN cd /opt/gerbil-src && make -j ${GERBIL_BUILD_CORES} && make install