Re: configure: error: cannot find macro directory `m4'

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Jeff,

* Jeff Sheinberg wrote on Sat, Sep 11, 2004 at 10:09:14PM CEST:
> 
> I had stopped work on a project which uses autoconf and automake
> about 6 months ago.  At that time "make distcheck" was working
> without any problems.  Unfortunately, I do not know which versions
> of autoconf and automake I had been using 6 months ago.
> 
> I restarted work on the project yesterday, using these versions,
> 
>     $ autoconf --version
>     autoconf (GNU Autoconf) 2.59
> 
>     $ automake --version
>     automake (GNU automake) 1.9.1
> 
> and now "make distcheck" no longer works.  I tried "make dist",
> which generates a tarball, however, unpacking that tarball into an
> empty directory and then running the "./configure" script fails
> with the same (subject) error message as "make distcheck".

Stab in the dark:  You have some macro files in the m4/ directory which
are not really needed within your project.  The newer aclocal now
recognizes this and does not include them in your project any more.
You relied on this before, not having put
  EXTRA_DIST = m4/macro_file.m4 ...
in the suitable Makefile.am.

Are these assumptions correct?  Then either add the EXTRA_DIST line,
or, if those macros are irrelevant for the project, remove metion of the
m4/ directory from all configure.ac and Makefile.am files.

Regards,
Ralf