Re: autoconf 2.5 (Re: PATCH: terminfo horor)

[Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>]

Oliver Kiddle wrote:
> On 25 Dec, Andrey wrote:
> 
> > - autoconf 2.5 does not create anything in configure. Instead the sole poin
> t
> > of configure script is to create config.status - and it is config.status
> > that finally does (should do) the job of creating files, making
> > substitutions etc
> 
> Taking that, what we should probably do is have configure not create
> any config.modules files but have it do the work of config.modules.sh,
> putting the results directly into config.status in such a way that
> config.status will create the config.modules file.

That sounds reasonable.  The ac_cv_* values used in the .mdd tests
can only change if configure is rerun, so the result of the tests
is fixed.  config.modules already claims you need to rerun
`config.status --recheck' when you add a new module.

> I suggest you go ahead with the rest of the patch. Except there's a
> typo (arlier) and you could also merge zshconfig.ac into configure.ac -
> there's no need for a separate file.

I've committed it, so it's time for everyone to upgrade to 2.50 or later
(the latest is 2.59).  I have not altered the offending (or inoffensive,
depending on your point of view) three lines.

Things we should do to smooth out the use of 2.50, apart from the
config.modules problem:

- Replace acconfig.h by chunks defined within configure.ac.
- Remove AC_CYGWIN which causes 2.59 to complain.  I think it's that
  simple --- all it does is rerun AC_CANONICAL_HOST and define
  the variable CYGWIN which we don't use.  We use the host_os, which
  is the right thing to do.
- Fix problems reported with sys/ptem.h and term.h by 2.59.  These are
  relatively minor --- we are already checking for usability and
  prerequisites for these files, we just need to do it in an order
  that causes configure not to scream.  (The message doesn't turn
  up on all systems.  It says that the file was found but couldn't
  be compiled.)
- Replace the chunks in configure.ac and Src/mkmakemod.sh which handle this:

    # The standard config.status requires the pathname for the .in file to
    # be relative to the top of the source tree.  As we have it in the build
    # tree, this is a problem.  zsh's configure script edits config.status,
    # adding the feature that an input filename starting with "!" has the
    # "!" removed and is not mangled further.

  with some suitable 2.50 feature.  I think it was rumoured there was
  such a feature.

-- 
Peter Stephenson <pws@csr.com>                  Software Engineer
CSR Ltd., Science Park, Milton Road,
Cambridge, CB4 0WH, UK                          Tel: +44 (0)1223 692070


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