[mythtv] Mac OS X Linker Flags

[Andrew Kimpton]

programs/programs-libs.pro has the following line it :

macx:using_firewire:using_backend:LIBS += -F$${CONFIG_MAC_AVC} - 
framework AVCVideoServices

which in conjunction with the line :

         LIBS += -F$${CONFIG_MAC_AVC} -framework AVCVideoServices

inside the macx { using_firewire:using_backend {} } conditional block  
of libs/libmythtv/libmythtv.pro

means that every program which links against libmythtv (which seems  
to be all of them - I don't see a distinction between frontend and  
backend) must also be a bundle and include the AVCVideoServices  
framework inside it.

This - makes the resultant binaries large and also means that you  
can't make a 'console' version of the helper apps like  
mythfilldatabase - which in turn means that we need to either do  
special symlinks or other packaging tricks on Mac OS X. It also means  
that the even the mythfrontend app must include this framework even  
though it never talks to the firewire settop box directly !

A small amount of rearranging of the flags - moving the LIBS line  
above to mythbackend, and removing LIBS line from programs-libs.pro  
fixes this and means that only the mythbackend needs the framework  
and to be a bundle. Adding

CONFIG += console

to mythfilldatabase.pro (and others too) will make them a console/ 
command line app in exactly the same way they are on a traditional  
Unix system.

I can make up patches and submit a ticket for this but before I do :

There *IS* one catch though ! If anyone ever calls to the Darwin  
Firewire code(eg darwin-firewirechannel.cpp) without linking against  
the framework they'll crash (unresolved symbols at runtime). Now I  
can't see why anything other than the backend daemon (and setup ??)  
would ever do that, but unless there's a library reorganization it's  
always a possibility that it could silently happen.

So.... I did see some recent discussion around circular dependancies  
and the like, and I've been struggling to understand the divisions in  
the libraries. There doesn't seem to be a clean (these libraries for  
backend stuff - those libraries for frontends) division between  
things. Is there a plan to work on this at all ?

Andrew 8-)

P.S. Can a qmake expert confirm/deny that the CONFIG += console  
setting is benign on Linux/Unix ?