Re: flexfax: Problems Compiling HylaFax under Linux

[David Woolley <david@djwhome.demon.co.uk>]

> 
> FAILS because REG_STARTEND is NOT defined in regex.h for my system.  The man
> pages do not describe this modifier.  I assume this modifier is the same as:

There is a patch, on the web site, for this regex incompatibility,
although I remember fixing it myself without too much trouble.

> In a number of places, there is a reference to an array value called
> 'fds_bits'.  It apparently is used to store FD bit settings.  I have grepped
> the complete source for HylaFax and no where can I find a definition of this
> array.

I've never seen this problem, so I assume that there is an interface
compatibility with your system's select system call.

The normal advice for Red Hat users seems to be to use the beta of the
next version, although, personally I'm unhappy with setting a precedent
for, particularly Red Hat, users to use betas as a matter of course.

Also make sure that you have version 3.4, not 3.5 of the TIFF library
(version 3.4 was written by the same person as Hylafax).

> At this point, I give up. I can't believe that this code is so bad that I
> have to mess with things like this when it appears you took time to create
> configure scripts and everything.  What am I missing?  Talk about writing
> unportable code.

The configure script is, I think, a recent addition.  The program was
originally written for SGI Unix, by an SGI employee (although it
was probably designed for the then available common Unices as well -
Linux didn't exist, or wasn't a significant factor at the time).

> Please email me any responses.

Especially if you are going to insult the software in this way, please
take the trouble to join the mailing list.