an AC_PATH_PROG curiousity

[Steve M. Robbins]

Hi,

It appears that AC_PATH_PROG has changed behaviour between 2.13 and 2.5x.

If the following configure.in file is processed with autoconf 2.13, 
all three calls correctly find "ls"

    AC_INIT

    AC_PATH_PROG(LS1,ls,no)
    echo "LS=$LS1"

    AC_PATH_PROG(LS2,ls,no,$PATH)
    echo "LS=$LS2"

    AC_PATH_PROG(LS3,ls,no,"$PATH")
    echo "LS=$LS3"

    AC_OUTPUT

However, if processed with autoconf 2.53 or 2.53a (CVS as of yesterday)
the last call (with quoted "$PATH") fails.

    address@hidden/usr/local/experimental/bin/autoconf
    address@hidden/configure
    checking for ls... /bin/ls
    LS=/bin/ls
    checking for ls... /bin/ls
    LS=/bin/ls
    checking for ls... no
    LS=no

I was a bit surprised by this.  Bug or feature?

-S

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