When using Alire to build a crate, how to pass parameters to pre build stages

General
1

Some crates require additional processing before an actual build can be performed. Frequently a ./configure shell script is used that itself can take parameters.

How to pass these ./configure parameters to alr build ?

Some are set in the alire.toml file of the crate(e.g. library types), is it wise to change that?

Is it possible to use the —stop-after=pre-build and then to change the Makefile? And then continue the build? Will alr install and /or gprinstall honor these changes?

When installing a crate (alr install) a —prefix=/path/to/where/install can be given. But for some crates that is too late, that parameter is already needed in the pre build.

2

Just saying. IMO crate system is a huge step back in technology. This is how software was distributed in 90’s: sources + readme.txt. 35 years later you should never be needed to run any scripts or re-build anything.

At least Alire could generate a compiler capacities gpr-file for the given target eliminating any need of running ./configure.

3

With Alire, there is a solution for this. In your alire.toml file add the lines:

[[actions]]
type = "pre-build"
command = ["bash, "do_something.sh"]