The kdelibs sources were modified to avoid compile errors when the --disable-dnssd option is used and avahi is not installed.

In the stock Slackware build script that option is not used. The stock Slackware build script compiles without those errors.

In configure --help, the default option is not explicitly declared. Only the --disable-dnssd option is mentioned in the help output. There is no --enable-dnssd option mentioned in the --help options. I think the latter option is valid, however. In the stock configure there is a test for --enable-dnssd. One way or another, I presume that dnssd support is enabled by default.

To the best of my knowledge Slackware does not include any kind of dnssd service. So an obvious question is why does the Slackware build script not fail?

The stock configure file contains the following mild warning:

if test "$have_libdns_sd" = "no"; then
  echo ""
  echo "You're missing Apple mDNSResponder 85 or later, therefore"
  echo "dnssd will be compiled as stub, without any real functionality."
  echo "If you want zeroconf support (www.zeroconf.org), you should install mDNSResponder first."
  echo "See dnssd/INSTALL for details."
  echo ""
  all_tests=bad
fi

I think this warning is the same as Trinity KDE. Yet the stock KDE 3.5.10 builds without halting if no such service is installed while the Trinity version does not.

Based upon that warning, kdelibs should compile with or without the --disable-dnssd option and the KDE DNS-SD watcher service should compile as an unfunctional stub.

At this point I don't think being required to use the --disable-dnssd option is the correct approach.

Related to this issue, what will happen if I compile kdelibs with avahi installed, but an end-user installs that package without avahi installed? Will KDE choke or spew forth a bunch of error messages? As we have not yet ironed out the bugs that will allow me to install these recompiled packages, I have no idea of the result. I can see the KDE DNS-SD watcher service in the my stock version of the Control Center. Hopefully compiling with avahi but installing without causes no problems and the KDE watcher services just shrugs, so to speak. I can add some verbosity in the build script explaining that building with avahi installed is a good idea but installing the kdelibs package does not require having avahi installed.

I doubt the Slackware maintainer compiled kdelibs with avahi installed. He's not that kind of person. His philosophy is to provide a basic operating system. If an end-user wants DNS-SD suppor then that would be up to the end-user. Therefore I think kdelibs should compile without needing the --disable-dns option or having avahi installed.

I have all the original stock KDE 3.5.10 sources. Please let me know what information to forward to better resolve this issue. I can send anything from the stock Slackware build process too.

Thanks.

Darrell