Re: libreadline only used with psql?

Peter Eisentraut <peter_e@gmx.net> writes:
> Chris Campbell wrote:
>> If that's the case, how hard would it be to link only psql with
>> readline (or libedit)?

> This is already addressed, more or less, in 8.2.

We've suppressed libreadline in the backend, but not in any of the other
client programs (eg, pg_dump still has it).  Not sure whether Chris
really cares about those.  In any case, I think it's inappropriate
for configure to know exactly which programs need which libraries.
It'd probably be more maintainable in the long run to propagate
src/backend/Makefile's technique into the other Makefiles:

# The backend doesn't need everything that's in LIBS, however
LIBS := $(filter-out -lz -lreadline -ledit -ltermcap -lncurses -lcurses, $(LIBS))

with suitable adjustment of the filter list for each program.
(But possibly "-lreadline -ledit -ltermcap -lncurses -lcurses"
should be factored out as a READLINE_LIBS variable or some such.)
        regards, tom lane