Re: AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK [was: Bug in gnulib-tools prevents bison from bootstrapping]

[Noah Misch]

On Sat, Sep 01, 2007 at 09:35:28PM -0600, Eric Blake wrote:
> 2007-09-01  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
> 
>       Improve M4 path searching during configure.
>       * lib/autoconf/programs.m4 (AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK): New
>       macro.
>       (_AC_PATH_PROG_FEATURE_CHECK): Rename...
>       (_AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK): ...to this, add defaulted action
>       parameter, and kill side effects.
>       (_AC_PROG_GREP, AC_PROG_SED): Adjust callers.
>       (_AC_FEATURE_CHECK_LENGTH): Kill extra whitespace.
>       * m4/m4.m4 (AC_PROG_GNU_M4): Don't stop searching until working m4
>       is found.
>       (AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK): Add backwards compatibility hack to
>       allow bootstrapping with autoconf 2.61.
>       * configure.ac (M4): AC_PROG_GNU_M4 now exits on failure.
>       * configure: Regenerate.
>       * doc/autoconf.texi (Generic Programs): Document new macro.  Make
>       it clear that optional path parameter defaults to $PATH.
>       * tests/mktests.sh (au_exclude_script): Exclude auto-testing new
>       macro.
>       * tests/semantics.at (AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK): New test.
>       * NEWS: Document the change.
>       * THANKS: Update.
>       Reported by Hans Aberg.

The parts related to the above look ok, but

> @@ -154,10 +151,10 @@ AC_PROG_SED
>  ## ------------ ##
>  
>  AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile doc/Makefile
> -                 lib/Makefile lib/Autom4te/Makefile lib/autoscan/Makefile
> -                 lib/m4sugar/Makefile
> -                 lib/autoconf/Makefile lib/autotest/Makefile
> -                 bin/Makefile])
> +              lib/Makefile lib/Autom4te/Makefile lib/autoscan/Makefile
> +              lib/m4sugar/Makefile
> +              lib/autoconf/Makefile lib/autotest/Makefile
> +              bin/Makefile])

this patch has many peripheral whitespace changes and other cleanups.

> --- doc/autoconf.texi 22 Aug 2007 05:00:47 -0000      1.1166
> +++ doc/autoconf.texi 2 Sep 2007 03:34:03 -0000
> @@ -3837,16 +3837,19 @@ instead, like this:
>  
>  @example
>  AC_PATH_PROG([INETD], [inetd], [/usr/libexec/inetd],
> -             [$PATH:/usr/libexec:/usr/sbin:/usr/etc:/etc])
> +             [$PATH$PATH_SEPARATOR/usr/libexec$PATH_SEPARATOR]dnl
> +[/usr/sbin$PATH_SEPARATOR/usr/etc$PATH_SEPARATOR/etc])
>  @end example
>  
>  You are strongly encouraged to declare the @var{variable} passed to
>  @code{AC_CHECK_PROG} etc.@: as precious, @xref{Setting Output Variables},
>  @code{AC_ARG_VAR}, for more details.
>  
> address@hidden AC_CHECK_PROG (@var{variable}, @var{prog-to-check-for}, 
> @var{value-if-found}, @ovar{value-if-not-found}, @ovar{path},  @ovar{reject})
> address@hidden AC_CHECK_PROG (@var{variable}, @var{prog-to-check-for}, @
> +  @var{value-if-found}, @ovar{value-if-not-found}, @
> +  @dvar{path, $PATH}, @ovar{reject})

Why the @\n?  We don't do that elsewhere in the manual.