Re: converting netkit to autoconf?

[Bruce Korb]

Dan Kegel wrote:

> It's not quite that trivial an issue.  m4 quoting is a bit of
> a bear.  (Although I'm not sure the situation would really be
> improved in other languages.  Has anyone thought through
> what the usability issues are with m4, and how they might be
> addressed?)

http://AutoGen.sourceforge.net/doc/autogen_3.html

AutoGen quotes are completely isolated from whatever
text is specified in the template.  That's 'cuz the
template author selects appropriate ag-quotes for
a particular template and it has no effect on any other
macros or templates that get referenced.  Of course,
few people seem to figure out what it really is.  :-)
It does have all the bells and whistles M4 has, though.
Additionally, the macro arguments are named instead of
positional, which makes it possible to extend
functionality without obsoleting usage.