The option I am referring to is the "--srcdir" option. ... the only scenario I can imagine in which the source-code files won't be in your present-working-directory (or relative to your present-working-directory as the
configure
script is programmed to expect) is if the "configure" script itself isn't in your present-working-directory
Right.
and in that one scenario, I really am unable to imagine why the "configure" script can't extrapolate the source-directory from the name it is invoked by - and instead has to have that --srcdir option to give it that information.
I'm not sure it's required. The configure
script will attempt to guess the location of srcdir:
# Find the source files, if location was not specified.
if test -z "$srcdir"; then
ac_srcdir_defaulted=yes
# Try the directory containing this script, then the parent directory.
...
So if it's in neither of those places, this will fail, hence the need for --srcdir. Maybe this is (was?) needed where there's some kind of performance differential where the sources are stored on a "slow" drive and the build happens on a "fast" drive, and configure
seems to run faster on the "fast" drive so it needs to be there as well...
At any rate, --srcdir is just a variable assignment, so it's not hard to do.
Why can't the "configure" script deduce that the source-directory is "awesome/software" just from the fact that it is invoked by the name "awesome/software/configure"
The configure
source seems to do that without specifying --srcdir, but I have not tried it.