Re: [bug-gettext] AM_GNU_GETTEXT_PREREQ

[Roumen Petrov]

Hello Daiki,

Daiki Ueno wrote:
> Hello,
>
> This is not for the imminent release, but I would like to hear opinions
> on it.
>
> In order to integrate gettext into autotools projects, we suggest
> invoking AM_GNU_GETTEXT and AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION, like this:
>
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.19.4])
>
> This instructs autopoint to extract the gettext infrastructure of the
> exact version (= 0.19.4) from the archive, without libintl.
ok.

> Instead of pulling the infrastructure from the archive, I'm thinking if
> it is feasible to offer a mechanism to use the latest version installed
> on the system:
>
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT_PREREQ([0.19.4])

Why not first xxx_PREREQ, like AC_PREREQ . Then macro AM_GNU_GETTEXT 
could extract if version is requested.
Otherwise PREREQ is ambiguous.
It could be:

  AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external])
  AM_GNU_GETTEXT_EXTRACT([0.19.4])

or

  AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external 0.19.4 intl=PATH])


> This shall copy the necessary files directly from /usr/share/gettext, if
> it meets the version requirement (>= 0.19.4).
>
> There are some benefits:
>
> - This could encourage the smooth transition to newer Automake
>    conventions, for example $(mkdir_p) -> $(MKDIR_P).
>
> - A maintainer of a package doesn't need to bump the gettext version in
>    configure.ac.
>
> and one drawback I can think of:
>
> - This may not be capable of drastic changes in po/, though the feature
>    set is stable these days.

If understand idea is  new archive to contain only "recent" versions.
Lets version 0.20.* not not add "drastic" change. Lest first "drastic" 
version is 0.21.
Would you like to distribute archive with following content:
a) at release time of 0.20 : only subdir for 0.20
b) at release time of 0.20.1 : only subdir for 0.20.1
c) at release time of 0.20.2 : only subdir for 0.20.2. Lest this is last 
from 0.20 series
d) at release time of 0.21 :  subdirs for 0.20.2 and 0.21

If the package require gettext 0.20 in case of c) and d) macro will 
extract version 0.20.2. Right ?

> I actually don't know the backgrounds of the current macros, so I might
> be missing some important points.  Comments appreciated.
>
> Regards,

Roumen