[vlc-devel] commit: svg: quick fix for out-of-tree compilation (Olivier Aubert )

[jpd at videolan.org]

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 03:57:36PM +0100, Olivier Aubert wrote:
> It just helps the - maybe bogus in your eyes - scenario of compiling
> modules without configuring the whole VLC. Indeed, it could cause
> issues, since config.h data is not available (and if provided from
> elsewhere, could be incorrect). But in this specific case, I know that I
> do not have other dependencies.

Fixes for one-off custom hacks are fine for one-off custom builds and
you can exploit any knowledge of your build that you want. However,
committing such hackery to mainline is a bit of a no-no. Words fail me
to explain that principle politely in the margin of this post.

That said, I don't believe it is sensible to conditionally include
config.h if without it the includers won't compile. The conditional
means that the implicit promise that it will compile without a config.h
is simply not true. This promise either should be fulfilled or it should
not be made in the first place.