Re: [wdiff-bugs] wdiff 0.5.91 pre-test released

[Denver Gingerich]

On 7/12/07, Jim Meyering <address@hidden> wrote:
> "Denver Gingerich" <address@hidden> wrote:
> > If you're wondering why I've decided to do things this way, try
> > building GNU m4 from CVS.  After that experience, I think you'll
> > understand :).
[...]
> Regarding m4, did you follow the instructions in the file, HACKING?
> Have you reported the problems?  I've found the maintainers to be
> quite responsive.

I didn't find any problems in the m4 build process per se, just the
more higher-level "problem" of the build process being somewhat
complicated.  Yes, I did follow the instructions in the HACKING file,
which would have likely allowed me to build m4 from CVS had I not
decided to abort that endeavor because I found an example of an
autotest implementation in a package that was less complicated to
build, specifically libtool.  The reason that I was building m4 to
begin with was that it appeared to use the autotest infrastructure and
I wanted to find such a package to use as an example for
re-implementing wdiff's autotest infrastructure.

> Regardless, realize that m4 has unusual requirements, by its
> nature (being "beneath" autoconf in the built-tool hierarchy).
> For example, it requires:
>   - unreleased automake
>   - a new-enough version of GNU m4
>   - recent libtool and autoconf
>   - and all have to be built to share the same $prefix

I didn't realize this at the time I discussed m4's build requirements
as being complicated.  I see that m4 is a bit of an exceptional case
so is probably not the best package to use when arguing whether it's
best to have auto-generated files in CVS.

> For a tool that does not require quite so much cutting-edge
> infrastructure, but that nonetheless version-controls *no*
> generated file, look at coreutils.  You can get it like this:
>
>   git clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/coreutils
>
> Then, follow the instructions in README-hacking to build.
> wdiff should be able to get by with nearly identical instructions.

I will look into this when I get a chance.  From what I can tell,
wdiff would require Autoconf 2.61 or greater and Gnulib.  Perhaps this
is not too harsh a requirement for those that wish to build from CVS.
It would be great to hear others' opinions on that, though :).

Denver