Re: [HACKERS] make install fails in perl5 ...

neat thing is that I swore that I took out perl5 altogether if the install  wasn't being performed by root...and
lookingat the logs, it appears I  did, and it got undone:
 
  So, who took the root check out, and when, and why?  

Probably me, for a couple of reasons.

- It seemed like the lack of a --with-perl option handles this.  I can see why we might want to verify the --with-perl
optionand override it, but what do we do if the user has perl installed in a way that the non-root postgresql installer
canwrite too?  Won't this prevent a perfectly good installation?  For that reason, I prefer requiring --with-perl and
acceptingit.  After all, we assume all sorts of configure options are ok and don't override them; why is perl special
inthis regard?
 

- It was also the case that the test involved ${WHOAMI} (I think) but no such variable was defined in configure.  As a
result,the test didn't work anyway and always failed.  I pointed this out when I sent a patch (along with some other
changes)and suggested two ways to go (delete the test or fix ${WHOAMI}) but I guess no one picked up on it and the test
gotdeleted.
 

I have no problem with putting it back as long as we can address the
condition in which perl is writable by nonroot users, but it needs to
define the variables before use.  Overall, though I feel that the
configure options are there for the user to provide correct
information, and that this test is not appropriate.

Sorry for the confusion.

Cheers,
Brook