Why is there no --enable-video-rpi option in configure?

SDL Development
1

When compiling SDL for the Raspberry Pi, I have to use the --host parameter to enable compilation of the native Raspberry Pi video driver, like so:

–host=arm-raspberry-linux-gnueabihf

It took me a while to figure out that this was necessary in order to have the native Raspberry Pi video driver compiled in. I think it would be better if there was an option like --enable-video-rpi that could be passed to configure and that would also show up when saying configure --help. Currently, it’s rather difficult to figure out that you have to use the --host parameter with arm-raspberry-linux-gnueabihf in order to get Raspberry Pi video support. It’s also somewhat inconsistent because most other video drivers can in fact be enabled/disabled through specific configure parameters but there is no such parameter for the native Raspberry Pi video driver.

2

The CMake build system already handles it like that. I’m guessing that it was perceived as better (at the time the driver was written) if it only activates on that system where the headers and libraries are present. It’s now quite ineffective since the host name changed.

If you create a bug report on https://bugzilla.libsdl.org someone might eventually poke at configure.in.

3

Filed:
https://bugzilla.libsdl.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3805