Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Paul Eggert]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> If this condition does not mean that configuring will fail,
> and does not indicate a bug, would you please make the message say so?

Sure.  I installed the following patch into Autoconf.

Also, this indicates a bug in zsh, which I have reproduced.  I will
CC: this message to zsh-workers@sunsite.dk to give them a heads-up,
and will follow up with a bug report there.

2007-04-30  Paul Eggert  <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>

	* lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_SHELL_FN_SPY): Don't imply that
	'configure' will fail if the shell lacks proper support for shell
	functions.  Suggested by RMS.

--- m4sh.m4	1 Dec 2006 18:32:35 -0000	1.204
+++ m4sh.m4	30 Apr 2007 17:11:50 -0000	1.206
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # M4 sugar for common shell constructs.
 # Requires GNU M4 and M4sugar.
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software
-# Foundation, Inc.
+# Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free
+# Software Foundation, Inc.
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ m4_define([_AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE],
 [AS_IF([test -n "${ZSH_VERSION+set}" && (emulate sh) >/dev/null 2>&1],
  [emulate sh
   NULLCMD=:
-  [#] Zsh 3.x and 4.x performs word splitting on ${1+"$[@]"}, which
+  [#] Pre-4.2 versions of Zsh do word splitting on ${1+"$[@]"}, which
   # is contrary to our usage.  Disable this feature.
   alias -g '${1+"$[@]"}'='"$[@]"'
   setopt NO_GLOB_SUBST],
@@ -1558,9 +1558,10 @@ m4_define([_AS_SHELL_FN_SPY],
 [_AS_DETECT_SUGGESTED([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK])
 _AS_RUN([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK]) || {
   echo No shell found that supports shell functions.
-  echo Please tell autoconf@gnu.org about your system,
-  echo including any error possibly output before this
-  echo message
+  echo Please tell bug-autoconf@gnu.org about your system,
+  echo including any error possibly output before this message.
+  echo This can help us improve future autoconf versions.
+  echo Configuration will now proceed without shell functions.
 }
 ])
 

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Richard Stallman]

Thank you.  Can you help us regenerate the Emacs configure file
using this patch?

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Paul Eggert]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> Thank you.  Can you help us regenerate the Emacs configure file
> using this patch?

Sure.

Perhaps the simplest thing is to generate a new Autoconf version?  You
could then install and use that.  It should not take much time for me
to generate a new test version of Autoconf on alpha.gnu.org, if this
idea seems good to you.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Paul Eggert <eggert@CS.UCLA.EDU>
> Date: Tue, 01 May 2007 19:37:34 -0700
> Cc: autoconf-patches@gnu.org, autoconf@gnu.org, emacs-devel@gnu.org
> 
> Perhaps the simplest thing is to generate a new Autoconf version?  You
> could then install and use that.  It should not take much time for me
> to generate a new test version of Autoconf on alpha.gnu.org, if this
> idea seems good to you.

FWIW, I think we should only use a new Autoconf if it is a patched
variant of the same version of Autoconf we use today.  Otherwise, we
are risking new bugs in the already tested configury when the release
is around the corner.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Richard Stallman]

    FWIW, I think we should only use a new Autoconf if it is a patched
    variant of the same version of Autoconf we use today.

I too would be in favor of using a patched Autoconf -- or just applying
the same change directly to the configure file.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Glenn Morris]

Richard Stallman wrote:

> or just applying the same change directly to the configure file.

This would be totally trivial (just edit the message at lines 415 of
configure AFAICS), but is it worth it?

Every time we regenerate configure, we would then have to remember to
re-apply by hand this minor tweak to a rarely-seen informational
message. It doesn't seem worth the effort IMO.

It would be simpler to just put an entry in PROBLEMS.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Jason Rumney]

Glenn Morris wrote:
> This would be totally trivial (just edit the message at lines 415 of
> configure AFAICS), but is it worth it?
>
> Every time we regenerate configure...

My interpretation was that this would be a one-off manual edit so we can 
release 22.1 without the risk of running into bugs introduced by a new 
version of autoconf. After the release we will have plenty of time to 
upgrade to the latest autoconf and find and fix any such bugs.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Glenn Morris]

Jason Rumney wrote:

> My interpretation was that this would be a one-off manual edit so we
> can release 22.1 without the risk of running into bugs introduced by
> a new version of autoconf.

Fine. I can do it later this evening.

>  After the release we will have plenty of time to upgrade to the
> latest autoconf and find and fix any such bugs.

So that means bumping the required version of autoconf on the release
branch after the release to the very very latest version of autoconf,
all to tweak the wording of a message. Which is also fine (people
don't usually need autoconf to build a release), but to me seems
needless.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Richard Stallman]

    Every time we regenerate configure, we would then have to remember to
    re-apply by hand this minor tweak to a rarely-seen informational
    message. It doesn't seem worth the effort IMO.

It is worth while so that users won't worry when they see this message.

Soon there will be a new autoconf version and we will use it, and we
won't need to tweak this any more.  But this way, we don't need
to change that right away.

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Glenn Morris]

Richard Stallman wrote:

> It is worth while so that users won't worry when they see this message.

ok, installed

Re: emacs-22.0.99 configure problem

[Stepan Kasal]

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[removed autoconf-patches from the cc list]

Hello all,
 I'm answering the easy questions to save some of Paul's time.

On Wed, May 02, 2007 at 11:15:07AM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
>     [...] a patched variant of the same version of Autoconf we use today.

ok, then grab the tarball of the Autoconf you use today, apply the
patch attached to this mail (applies cleanly to 2.61 and with some
offset to 2.60).  Then configure with some --prefix, install, enjoy.

(The version number will stay the same, but I do not think we should
be that strict, it's just a wording of a message, after all.)

Alternatively, place this definition to configure.ac, _before_
AC_INIT:

m4_define([_AS_SHELL_FN_SPY],
[_AS_DETECT_SUGGESTED([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK])
_AS_RUN([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK]) || {
  echo No shell found that supports shell functions.
  echo Please tell bug-autoconf@gnu.org about your system,
  echo including any error possibly output before this message.
  echo This can help us improve future autoconf versions.
  echo Configuration will now proceed without shell functions.
}
])

(Remember to replace that by AC_PREREQ([2.62]) when both your and our
releases are out.)

> [...] or just applying the same change directly to the configure file.

That's a way, too.  Just replace the text in the generated configure
by the new one.  (There is only one occurence.)

Happy hacking,
	Stepan

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Index: lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/autoconf/autoconf/lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4,v
retrieving revision 1.204
retrieving revision 1.206
diff -u -r1.204 -r1.206
--- lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4	1 Dec 2006 18:32:35 -0000	1.204
+++ lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4	30 Apr 2007 17:11:50 -0000	1.206
@@ -2,8 +2,8 @@
 # M4 sugar for common shell constructs.
 # Requires GNU M4 and M4sugar.
 #
-# Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 Free Software
-# Foundation, Inc.
+# Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Free
+# Software Foundation, Inc.
 #
 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
@@ -1502,9 +1502,10 @@
 [_AS_DETECT_SUGGESTED([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK])
 _AS_RUN([_AS_SHELL_FN_WORK]) || {
   echo No shell found that supports shell functions.
-  echo Please tell autoconf@gnu.org about your system,
-  echo including any error possibly output before this
-  echo message
+  echo Please tell bug-autoconf@gnu.org about your system,
+  echo including any error possibly output before this message.
+  echo This can help us improve future autoconf versions.
+  echo Configuration will now proceed without shell functions.
 }
 ])
 

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