Re: config.rpath missing

[Bruno Haible]

Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> The Autoconf macros provided by gettext now require the file
> `config.rpath' by using AC_REQUIRE_AUX_FILE.  One way to satisfy this
> requirement would be to have it distributed with Automake, then
>   automake --add-missing
>
> would install it if not present.  However, as I read it, `gettextize'
> also installs these files.

The files config.rpath and lib-link.m4, lib-prefix.m4, lib-ld.m4 belong
together. gettexize installs them all together. gnulib-tool installs them
all together or none of them.

> Should Automake still add config.rpath, as
> suggested in Stepan's patch, or do you foresee any incompatibilites this
> way?

This would make it hard to make config.rpath and lib-link.m4 evolve: a
user could have got lib-link.m4 from gettextize and config.rpath from
automake, and then we get into a version mess.

IMO the objective for future developments should be to abstract common
features of libtoolize, gettextize, and gnulib-tool into the "GNU Build
System". One of these common features is to copy a set of files into
build-aux/ and m4/. The same way as build-aux/ltmain.sh and m4/libtool.m4
need to be consistent, build-aux/config.rpath and m4/lib-link.m4 need to
be consistent. Distributing the build-aux/ files through automake is a
step in the wrong direction.

> > The following tests failed, because
> > automake wasn't able to --add-missing config.rpath:
> >     gettext.test gettext2.test subcond.test

Is there no other way to fix the tests?

Bruno