bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Angelo Graziosi]

I noticed that building Emacs (master) on Windows with MSYS2/MINGW64 now shows these warnings

$ ./autogen.sh
[...]
Running 'autoreconf -fi -I m4' ...
ac-wrapper: autoreconf: warning: auto-detected versions not found ( ); falling back to latest available
You can now run './configure'.

./configure
[...]
checking for xattr library with ATTR_ACTION_PERMISSIONS... no
configure: WARNING: libattr development library was not found or not usable.
configure: WARNING: GNU Emacs will be built without xattr support.
checking whether readlink signature is correct... yes
[...]

I wonder if they are to be expected and if we can do something to avoid them.

Thanks,
 Angelo.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2023 09:45:56 +0100 (CET)
> From: Angelo Graziosi <angelo.g0@libero.it>
> 
> I noticed that building Emacs (master) on Windows with MSYS2/MINGW64 now shows these warnings
> 
> $ ./autogen.sh
> [...]
> Running 'autoreconf -fi -I m4' ...
> ac-wrapper: autoreconf: warning: auto-detected versions not found ( ); falling back to latest available
> You can now run './configure'.
> 
> ./configure
> [...]
> checking for xattr library with ATTR_ACTION_PERMISSIONS... no
> configure: WARNING: libattr development library was not found or not usable.
> configure: WARNING: GNU Emacs will be built without xattr support.
> checking whether readlink signature is correct... yes
> [...]
> 
> I wonder if they are to be expected and if we can do something to avoid them.

The first one doesn't happen here.

The second one is due to m4/xattr.m4.  Paul, this test should not be
run on MS-Windows (although running it is mostly harmless), as xattr
will not be supported there.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Angelo Graziosi]

> Il 25/02/2023 10:49 Eli Zaretskii ha scritto:
> 
> The first one doesn't happen here.
>

Are you using MSYS2/MINGW64? It occurs in the build I did on Feb. 04 but not on the one I did on Jan. 01. My installation is updated daily..

Thanks.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2023 17:51:21 +0100 (CET)
> From: Angelo Graziosi <angelo.g0@libero.it>
> Cc: 61782@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> 
> > Il 25/02/2023 10:49 Eli Zaretskii ha scritto:
> > 
> > The first one doesn't happen here.
> >
> 
> Are you using MSYS2/MINGW64?

No, I'm using MSYS and MinGW.  I guess your autoconf version is newer
or something.  Curiously, I cannot find anything about this warning on
the net.

> It occurs in the build I did on Feb. 04 but not on the one I did on Jan. 01. My installation is updated daily..

I never update my installation unless strictly necessary.  Keeps me
sane.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Paul Eggert]

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 313 bytes --]

On 2023-02-25 01:49, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> The second one is due to m4/xattr.m4.  Paul, this test should not be
> run on MS-Windows (although running it is mostly harmless), as xattr
> will not be supported there.

Perhaps something like the attached untested patch? Please feel free to 
install it if it works.

[-- Attachment #2: xattr.diff --]
[-- Type: text/x-patch, Size: 449 bytes --]

diff --git a/nt/mingw-cfg.site b/nt/mingw-cfg.site
index 7ca19cbad0..425eaace30 100644
--- a/nt/mingw-cfg.site
+++ b/nt/mingw-cfg.site
@@ -170,3 +170,6 @@ gl_cv_func_free_preserves_errno=yes
 # Don't build the Gnulib nanosleep module: it requires W2K or later,
 # and MinGW does have nanosleep.
 gl_cv_func_nanosleep=yes
+# Suppress configure-time diagnostic from unnecessary libxattr check,
+# as xattr will not be supported here.
+enable_xattr=no

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sat, 25 Feb 2023 15:38:38 -0800
> Cc: 61782@debbugs.gnu.org
> From: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>
> 
> On 2023-02-25 01:49, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > The second one is due to m4/xattr.m4.  Paul, this test should not be
> > run on MS-Windows (although running it is mostly harmless), as xattr
> > will not be supported there.
> 
> Perhaps something like the attached untested patch? Please feel free to 
> install it if it works.

Thanks, installed.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Angelo Graziosi]

> Il 25/02/2023 10:49 Eli Zaretskii ha scritto:
> 
> > From: Angelo Graziosi
> > 
> > I noticed that building Emacs (master) on Windows with MSYS2/MINGW64 now shows these warnings
> > 
> > $ ./autogen.sh
> > [...]
> > Running 'autoreconf -fi -I m4' ...
> > ac-wrapper: autoreconf: warning: auto-detected versions not found ( ); falling back to latest available
> > You can now run './configure'.
> 
> The first one doesn't happen here.

For the sake of completeness, someone made a deep analysis of that warning: https://github.com/msys2/MSYS2-packages/issues/3588

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2023 22:34:35 +0100 (CET)
> From: Angelo Graziosi <angelo.g0@libero.it>
> Cc: 61782@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> > > $ ./autogen.sh
> > > [...]
> > > Running 'autoreconf -fi -I m4' ...
> > > ac-wrapper: autoreconf: warning: auto-detected versions not found ( ); falling back to latest available
> > > You can now run './configure'.
> > 
> > The first one doesn't happen here.
> 
> For the sake of completeness, someone made a deep analysis of that warning: https://github.com/msys2/MSYS2-packages/issues/3588

Thanks.

Paul, is there something we should do about this nuisance?  I'm okay
with doing nothing if what we have is a reasonable compromise.

Thanks.

bug#61782: About some warning building Emacs master on MSYS2/MINGW64 [autogen, configure]

[Paul Eggert]

On 2/27/23 03:13, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> Date: Sun, 26 Feb 2023 22:34:35 +0100 (CET)
>> From: Angelo Graziosi <angelo.g0@libero.it>
>> Cc: 61782@debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>>>> $ ./autogen.sh
>>>> [...]
>>>> Running 'autoreconf -fi -I m4' ...
>>>> ac-wrapper: autoreconf: warning: auto-detected versions not found ( ); falling back to latest available
>>>> You can now run './configure'.
>>>
>>> The first one doesn't happen here.
>>
>> For the sake of completeness, someone made a deep analysis of that warning: https://github.com/msys2/MSYS2-packages/issues/3588
> 
> Thanks.
> 
> Paul, is there something we should do about this nuisance?  I'm okay
> with doing nothing if what we have is a reasonable compromise.


I'd like to know why that warning is being given before trying to 
suppress it, as it could be a valid version-mismatch warning for that 
user's build configuration.

For what it's worth, I don't get the warning when running the latest 
autotools-wrappers on Fedora 37. I got my copy of autotools-wrappers 
from <https://gitweb.gentoo.org/proj/autotools-wrappers.git/> commit 
afe80def609c91d72df73837ce2c51fed8b69f28. Perhaps the user in question 
could try that version of autotools-wrappers.

I'll cc this to Sam James to see if he has any advice about this. Sam, 
the thread is in <https://bugs.gnu.org/61782>.