Re: M4sh tests 77 and 78 vs /bin/sh -> dash

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Thu, 12 Mar 2020, Zack Weinberg wrote:
> does not, assuming the stock `autoreconf` is from Autoconf 2.69.
> This is because `make check` in this sequence re-runs configure
> via `config.status --recheck`, which doesn’t recalculate *everything*.
> In particular, the value of @SHELL@ will remain at whatever the first
> run of ./configure picked.  @SHELL@ controls which shell is used to
> run tests/testsuite from `make check`.  And, on a system where /bin/sh
> is dash (and /bin/bash also exists), autoconf 2.69’s
> `_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL` picks /bin/bash for @SHELL@,
> but autoconf trunk’s `_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL` picks /bin/sh.

It would be useful if Autoconf does not require bash. If it requires 
bash and can not work with a reasonably POSIX-conformant shell 
(perhaps even ash/dash, bosh, or ksh), then there is a problem.  The 
automatic use of bash is a crutch which may be hiding problems.

This is a reason why verifying that Debian or Gentoo packages build 
with the new Autoconf does not verify that Autoconf is "ok".

In the past, when it was thought that libtool was feature complete and 
about ready for release it was then discovered that many non-portable 
artifacts had crept in and libtool was not ok on non-GNU/Linux systems 
until those non-portable artifacts were fixed.

If Autoconf were to reqire GNU bash and GNU sed, and Automake were to 
require GNU make, and libtool were to require GNU binutils and GCC, 
then Autotools should become a historical artifact.

Bob
--
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
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