Bug #61951 [NEW]: "make install" script fails when prefix dir is a symbolic link

From: Operating system: Any PHP version: 5.4.2 Package: Compile Failure Bug Type: Bug Bug description:"make install" script fails when prefix dir is a symbolic link Description: ------------ I've been using a symbolic link scheme for the prefix destination dir of PHP/Apache/etc. software that I compile myself for over ten years now, to easily and quickly switch between releases in case of problems showing up when I move to a new version: # ls -l /usr/opt drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 512 Mar 20 2011 php536 drwxr-xr-x 6 root wheel 512 Dec 11 12:44 php538 drwxr-xr-x 16 root wheel 512 May 5 11:02 php542 lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 6 May 5 11:02 php -> php542 ... ./configure --prefix=/usr/opt/php --other-flags If something goes wrong, I just shut down the servers, change the symbolical link, restart... You get the idea... It is not a problem with any earlier version of PHP, but as of PHP 5.4.0 something changed in the "install" portion of the Makefile that breaks this handy practice: # make install Installing PHP CLI binary: /usr/opt/php/bin/ Installing PHP CLI man page: /usr/opt/php/php/man/man1/ mkdir: /usr/opt/php/php: File exists mkdir: /usr/opt/php/php/man: Too many levels of symbolic links mkdir: /usr/opt/php/php/man/man1: Too many levels of symbolic links *** Error code 1 Stop in /usr/opt/php-5.4.2 (line 243 of Makefile). And when I take a look at what the install script has been doing: # cd /usr/opt/php # ls -l total 4 drwxr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 May 5 13:43 bin lrwxr-xr-x 1 root wheel 3 May 5 11:02 php -> php For some reason, when the prefix dir is a symbolic link, the 5.4.x Makefile creates a symbolic link to itself inside the prefix dir. Note also that the timestamp of the symbolic is identical to the actual symbolic link I make for the prefix destination, as if the Makefile tries to copy the directory into itself. The problem is easily solved by entering the prefix dir, removing the broken link that the install script creates and just "mkdir php", then resuming "make install" again. This shouldn't be needed, obviously. The script shouldn't fail just because the prefix happens to be a symbolic link to an actual destination sitting in the same directory - there are no technical complications caused by this handy practice. -- Edit bug report at https://bugs.php.net/bug.php?id=61951&edit=1 -- Try a snapshot (PHP 5.4): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=trysnapshot54 Try a snapshot (PHP 5.3): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=trysnapshot53 Try a snapshot (trunk): https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=trysnapshottrunk Fixed in SVN: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=fixed Fixed in SVN and need be documented: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=needdocs Fixed in release: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=alreadyfixed Need backtrace: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=needtrace Need Reproduce Script: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=needscript Try newer version: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=oldversion Not developer issue: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=support Expected behavior: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=notwrong Not enough info: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=notenoughinfo Submitted twice: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=submittedtwice register_globals: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=globals PHP 4 support discontinued: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=php4 Daylight Savings: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=dst IIS Stability: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=isapi Install GNU Sed: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=gnused Floating point limitations: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=float No Zend Extensions: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=nozend MySQL Configuration Error: https://bugs.php.net/fix.php?id=61951&r=mysqlcfg