Re: Debian-specific Autoconf patches

[Ben Pfaff]

Ralf Wildenhues <address@hidden> writes:

> - The variable quoting parts have been picked up by Paul in current CVS.
>
> - This one isn't necessary any more, you can simply drop it:

Thanks, I'll drop these in my next upload (soon).

> - Was this one fixing a bug, or just for nicer config.log output?
>
> -        AC_TRY_COMMAND([test -z "$ac_[]_AC_LANG_ABBREV[]_werror_flag"
> +        AC_TRY_COMMAND([test -z "$ac_[]_AC_LANG_ABBREV[]_werror_flag"[]dnl
>                          || test ! -s conftest.err]) &&

This fixed Debian Bug#221148.  The submitter's description was;

    The command (indirectly) passed to AC_TRY_COMMAND by
    AC_TRY_COMPILE produces a multi-line command that eval
    doesn't like (syntax error before unexpected "||"). The
    attached patch fixes this by causing the command to span only
    one line in the generated configure script.

I've done a lousy job of passing these things upstream, but I
imagine that this one is a candidate (unless there's some reason
that this should work now, even though it caused a problem for
that submitter at the time).

I see that Paul Eggert has confirmed that it's a bug.

> - Then, there is an atomic replacement patch for autom4te.  Are you
>   going to submit it to GNU Autoconf?

There's a bug open against it right now.  I'm going to put a fix
for it in my next upload.  After that, I'll pass it along.

> - There is a change to AC_PATH_X, apparently extending functionality.
>   Is that relevant to Autoconf-2.60?

The documentation provided in Debian's non-free distribution
talks about the extended functionality.  It was requested in the
discussion of one of the X-related bugs filed against the Debian
autoconf package.  I don't, however, know whether or how many
users the extended functionality actually has.  I suspect few if
any.

I'd actually like to drop this.

Here's the fragment from the documentation.  I think it's
actually wrong about the default header file name.

 - Macro: AC_PATH_X ([LIBRARY = `Xt'], [HEADER-FILE =
          `X11/Intrinsic.h'], [FUNCTION-CALL = `XtMalloc (0)'])
     Try to locate the X Window System include files and libraries.  If
     the user gave the command line options `--x-includes=DIR' and
     `--x-libraries=DIR', use those directories.  If either or both
     were not given, get the missing values by running `xmkmf' on a
     trivial `Imakefile' and examining the `Makefile' that it produces.
     If that fails (such as if `xmkmf' is not present), look for the
     files in several directories where they often reside.  If either
     method is successful, set the shell variables `x_includes' and
     `x_libraries' to their locations, unless they are in directories
     the compiler searches by default.

     This macro checks that FUNCTION-CALL compiles when HEADER is
     included and that the resulting executable links against LIBRARY.
     The ability to specify these explicitly is an experimental,
     Debian-specific feature.  The defaults reflect what other versions
     of Autoconf always check.

     If both methods fail, or the user gave the command line option
     `--without-x', set the shell variable `no_x' to `yes'; otherwise
     set it to the empty string.

> - Last but not least, you can simply drop the following patch, as
>   the right hand side of assignments does not undergo word splitting.

I learn something new every day.
-- 
"Ho ho ho. I _so_ enjoy making a fool out of myself."
--Linus, on Christmas Day, 2000