bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Achim Gratz]

While troubleshooting a problem with configure on my system, I found
that autogen.sh never updated these autoconf files in build-aux, so they
were still the same as when they had been generated/copied three years
ago:

build-aux/compile
build-aux/config.guess
build-aux/config.sub
build-aux/install-sh
build-aux/missing
build-aux/depcomp

Apparently these files are just checked for existence unless the
"--force" option is also given (which autogen.sh doesn't do).  I'm
currently using autoconf 2.69 if that matters.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

Factory and User Sound Singles for Waldorf Q+, Q and microQ:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSounds

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko@nexgo.de>
> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 11:17:16 +0200
> 
> 
> While troubleshooting a problem with configure on my system, I found
> that autogen.sh never updated these autoconf files in build-aux, so they
> were still the same as when they had been generated/copied three years
> ago:
> 
> build-aux/compile
> build-aux/config.guess
> build-aux/config.sub
> build-aux/install-sh
> build-aux/missing
> build-aux/depcomp
> 
> Apparently these files are just checked for existence unless the
> "--force" option is also given (which autogen.sh doesn't do).  I'm
> currently using autoconf 2.69 if that matters.

Aren't these files created by automake, which is invoked by
autoreconf?  If so, this is not really an Emacs problem, is it?

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Achim Gratz]

Eli Zaretskii writes:
>> Apparently these files are just checked for existence unless the
>> "--force" option is also given (which autogen.sh doesn't do).  I'm
>> currently using autoconf 2.69 if that matters.
>
> Aren't these files created by automake, which is invoked by
> autoreconf?  If so, this is not really an Emacs problem, is it?

There is nothing in any of the INSTALL files to suggest what is supposed
to happen if the files pre-exist, but as I said, autogen.sh completely
lacks any way to force these files to be re-created by giving the
autoreconf call the correct option.

My expectation would be that any call to autogen.sh would re-create
these files.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

Factory and User Sound Singles for Waldorf rackAttack:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSounds

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko@nexgo.de>
> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 12:50:43 +0200
> 
> My expectation would be that any call to autogen.sh would re-create
> these files.

That's not enough (assuming we indeed want these files to be
re-created automatically): just running "make" will invoke the
autotools as needed.  In fact, after the initial invocation of
autogen.sh, you should normally never again need to run it by hand.

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Achim Gratz]

[would you please not quote full email addresses?]

Eli Zaretskii writes:
>> My expectation would be that any call to autogen.sh would re-create
>> these files.
>
> That's not enough (assuming we indeed want these files to be
> re-created automatically): just running "make" will invoke the
> autotools as needed.  In fact, after the initial invocation of
> autogen.sh, you should normally never again need to run it by hand.

The Makefile (at least on GNU/Linux) actually calls autotools through
autogen.sh and not directly.  And since that is so, whether or not I
call it by hand or through the Makefile doesn't change the fact that
after an upgrade of autotools on your system or if you've somehow edited
or damaged those files you'll end up with stale files in build-aux that
may or may not work correctly.

It may not be appropriate to unconditionally replace these files each
times autoreconf is run, but there should be at least an option for
autogen.sh to do this.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

SD adaptations for Waldorf Q V3.00R3 and Q+ V3.54R2:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSDada

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Achim Gratz <Stromeko@nexgo.de>
> Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2014 13:30:43 +0200
> 
> [would you please not quote full email addresses?]

[Why?  And it's not me, it's Emacs.  And the list server mangles them
anyway.]

> Eli Zaretskii writes:
> >> My expectation would be that any call to autogen.sh would re-create
> >> these files.
> >
> > That's not enough (assuming we indeed want these files to be
> > re-created automatically): just running "make" will invoke the
> > autotools as needed.  In fact, after the initial invocation of
> > autogen.sh, you should normally never again need to run it by hand.
> 
> The Makefile (at least on GNU/Linux) actually calls autotools through
> autogen.sh and not directly.

GNUMakefile does, but not Makefile.in:

  $(srcdir)/configure: $(AUTOCONF_INPUTS)
	  cd ${srcdir} && autoconf

  ACLOCAL_INPUTS = $(srcdir)/configure.ac $(srcdir)/m4/gnulib-comp.m4
  $(srcdir)/aclocal.m4: $(ACLOCAL_INPUTS)
	  cd $(srcdir) && aclocal -I m4

  AUTOMAKE_INPUTS = $(srcdir)/aclocal.m4 $(srcdir)/lib/Makefile.am \
    $(srcdir)/lib/gnulib.mk
  $(srcdir)/lib/Makefile.in: $(AUTOMAKE_INPUTS)
	  cd $(srcdir) && automake --gnu -a -c lib/Makefile

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Paul Eggert]

In trunk bzr 116975 I changed autogen.sh to use autoreconf's -f option, 
which should fix the bug.  -f won't hurt in the typical case when 
autogen.sh is being invoked in freshly checked-out sources, and might 
help in cases where autoreconf itself has been upgraded.

GNU make should do this automatically when things go well, but there are 
a lot of reasons timestamps can be messed up in a source tree and 
autogen.sh should try to be helpful when recovering from such problems.

bug#17258: autogen.sh doesn't update stale autoconf files in build-aux

[Achim Gratz]

Paul Eggert writes:
> In trunk bzr 116975 I changed autogen.sh to use autoreconf's -f
> option, which should fix the bug.  -f won't hurt in the typical case
> when autogen.sh is being invoked in freshly checked-out sources, and
> might help in cases where autoreconf itself has been upgraded.

Thank you very much.


Regards,
Achim.
-- 
+<[Q+ Matrix-12 WAVE#46+305 Neuron microQkb Andromeda XTk Blofeld]>+

SD adaptation for Waldorf microQ V2.22R2:
http://Synth.Stromeko.net/Downloads.html#WaldorfSDada