Re: AC_CANONICAL_* && *_triplet

[Akim Demaille]

Tom Tromey <address@hidden> writes:

> >>>>> "Derek" == Derek R Price <address@hidden> writes:
> 
> Derek> Is there a good reason that Automake renames the three
> Derek> variables set by AC_CANONICAL_* ('build', 'host', & 'target')
> Derek> to 'build_triplet', 'host_triplet', & 'target_triplet'?
> 
> [...]
> 
> Unfortunately these variables are documented.  So we need to continue
> supporting these names for a while.  Bonus points if you can make a
> patch that warns about the use of an obsolete macro name in
> Makefile.am.
> 
> Beyond that I think changing them to reflect autoconf is a good idea.

I tend to think that Automake was trying to cure some stupid Autoconf
choices.  By the past --build=FOO was stored in $build, and if you had
run AC_CANONICAL_STUFF it was saved in $build_alias, and then
canonicalized as $build.

Today, $build_alias is *always* strictly --build, and $build is
virtually undefined if AC_CANONICAL_STUFF is not run (but to remain
bugward compatible it's actually an alias of $build_alias), and once
AC_CANONICAL_STUFF it is indeed the triplet.

So my personal opinion is, let's forget about this, using traces
should take care of the all these Autoconfisms which are polluting
Automake.