[PyKDE] Root vs. non-root builds

[Steve Simmons]

I find the PyKDE/PyQt/sip insistance on being *built* as root disturbing.
Yes, it's a bit easier to build as root than as a user, but only a bit.
Speaking as a 20-year UNIX admin and author of the influential paper 'Life
Without Root', I would strongly argue that the only part of the process
which should require root is the cp of the final files to their
destinations.

For the moment, let's assume that we all understand the risks of running
large, complex, arbitrary scripts as root, and that we think it's a habit
we should not cultivate.  Instead, I'm going to address the opposite
questions, ie:

  o  How can we modify the build/install mechanisms to avoid root.
  o  Is anybody else interested.

The answer to the first is generally that the build process should
look locally and deposit locally all the subsidiary items required
for the build.  As an example, a ${BUILD}/{lib,bin,man,include,...}
tree is where things should be placed during build   -I ${BUILD} and
-L ${BUILD} switches should be added to the makefiles appropriately.
The install process then consists primarily of copying ${BUILD} to
${REAL}.  Yes, I know I'm handwaving past a few things.

The answer to the second is what I'd like to hear from others.  If
nobody cares, then I'm not gonna worry about it.  But if others think
the ability to do most of the build sans root is a good idea, let me
know.
-- 
"Deconstruction is [when] a work is interpreted as a statement about itself,
using a literary version of the same cheap trick that Kurt Godel used to try
to frighten mathematicians back in the thirties."  -- Chip Morningstar
    in <http://www.dourish.com/goodies/decon.html>