= Remove .la files =
== Goal description ==

In the past, we discovered quite a few RC bugs due to dependencies
hidden in .la-files, or noticed that these .la files introduced
unneeded dependencies. As they are usually not needed on Debian
systems, we would like to remove them.

A longer explanation and the corresponding discussion can be found at [[http://lists.debian.org/debian-devel/2009/08/msg00783.html]].

As dependency_libs mentions absolute paths, it'll break multiarch.

== Current status ==

 * Andreas Barth has created a script regularly scanning the archive for .la files.
   The current output can be found on [[http://release.debian.org/~aba/la/current.txt]].
 * List of user-tagged bug reports: [[http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?tag=la-file-removal;users=codehelp@debian.org]]
 
== How to help ==

 * Emptying the `dependency_libs` field in .la files: {{{sed -i "/dependency_libs/ s/'.*'/''/" `find . -name '*.la'`}}}
 * Removal of the .la file if and only if all reverse dependencies don't list it anymore in the `dependency_libs` field of their .la file and the .la file is not used with libltdl as a plugin.

== Next Milestones ==

 * Empy dependency_libs fields in all .la files.
 * Removal of all unneeded .la files.