Switch to Automake?

Switch to Automake?

[Mathieu Lirzin]

Hi,

In order to improve the maintainability of Emacs and to enforce the
usage of conventions described by GNU Coding Standards, I think it would
be a good idea to use Automake in Emacs build system.

Before starting to work on the conversion, I would like to know if such
change would be accepted.  If yes I would like to request some advices
on how to proceed or comments about any potential issue.

TIA,

--
Mathieu Lirzin

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Xue Fuqiao]

On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 9:40 PM, Mathieu Lirzin <mthl@gnu.org> wrote:
> Hi,

Hi Mathieu,

> In order to improve the maintainability of Emacs and to enforce the
> usage of conventions described by GNU Coding Standards, I think it would
> be a good idea to use Automake in Emacs build system.

Wikipedia says that Emacs uses Automake[1] ;-)
Although IIUC only lib/ (which is imported from Gnulib) uses Automake.

I think documenting the Emacs build system (i.e., how Emacs uses
Autoconf, Make/Automake and Gnulib) is really helpful for developers who
are not familiar with the GNU build system, like me.  I'm aware of
`(info "(elisp) Building Emacs")', but it only explains the `temacs'
executable file, the `loadup', `site-load', and `site-init' libraries,
the doc strings in `etc/DOC', and some functions.  It doesn't mention
how Emacs uses Autotools.

> Before starting to work on the conversion, I would like to know if such
> change would be accepted.  If yes I would like to request some advices
> on how to proceed or comments about any potential issue.

Maybe Paul and Eli can comment on this suggestion.  I've added them to Cc.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automake#Notable_applications_that_use_Automake

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Paul Eggert]

I'd favor switching all the Emacs build procedure (not just lib/) to 
Automake. If memory serves, there were some objections the last time 
this came up, but I don't recall what they were.

One more thing. Emacs now assumes GNU Make, which should render some 
Automake features unnecessary, e.g., we already can assume conditional 
'make'.

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Mon, 14 Dec 2015 08:34:57 +0800
> From: Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com>
> Cc: emacs-devel <emacs-devel@gnu.org>, eggert@cs.ucla.edu, eliz@gnu.org
> 
> Maybe Paul and Eli can comment on this suggestion.  I've added them to Cc.

No need to add me: I read everything posted here anyway.  If I don't
reply, I have my reasons.

Thanks.

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Mathieu Lirzin]

Hi Xue,

Xue Fuqiao <xfq.free@gmail.com> writes:

> On Sun, Dec 13, 2015 at 9:40 PM, Mathieu Lirzin <mthl@gnu.org> wrote:
>
>> In order to improve the maintainability of Emacs and to enforce the
>> usage of conventions described by GNU Coding Standards, I think it would
>> be a good idea to use Automake in Emacs build system.
>
> Wikipedia says that Emacs uses Automake[1] ;-)
> Although IIUC only lib/ (which is imported from Gnulib) uses Automake.

Yes I should have mentioned that it was already used partially.  :)

> I think documenting the Emacs build system (i.e., how Emacs uses
> Autoconf, Make/Automake and Gnulib) is really helpful for developers who
> are not familiar with the GNU build system, like me.  I'm aware of
> `(info "(elisp) Building Emacs")', but it only explains the `temacs'
> executable file, the `loadup', `site-load', and `site-init' libraries,
> the doc strings in `etc/DOC', and some functions.  It doesn't mention
> how Emacs uses Autotools.

I agree that this would help.  Since Automake is well documented, It
would be possible to document the Emacs build system by linking to the
related parts in Automake manual for generic stuff, and describe more
precisely Emacs idiosyncrasies.

> Maybe Paul and Eli can comment on this suggestion.  I've added them to Cc.

Thanks,

--
Mathieu Lirzin

Re: Switch to Automake?

[John Wiegley]

>>>>> Mathieu Lirzin <mthl@gnu.org> writes:

> In order to improve the maintainability of Emacs and to enforce the usage of
> conventions described by GNU Coding Standards, I think it would be a good
> idea to use Automake in Emacs build system.

I would be happy to use automake as much as is feasible. I've always found
maintaining Makefile.am to be a much easier job than Makefile.in.

-- 
John Wiegley                  GPG fingerprint = 4710 CF98 AF9B 327B B80F
http://newartisans.com                          60E1 46C4 BD1A 7AC1 4BA2

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Mathieu Lirzin]

Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu> writes:

> I'd favor switching all the Emacs build procedure (not just lib/) to
> Automake. If memory serves, there were some objections the last time
> this came up, but I don't recall what they were.

> One more thing. Emacs now assumes GNU Make, which should render some
> Automake features unnecessary, e.g., we already can assume conditional
> 'make'.

OK, Thanks for sharing these informations.

--
Mathieu Lirzin

Re: Switch to Automake?

[Mathieu Lirzin]

John Wiegley <jwiegley@gmail.com> writes:

>>>>>> Mathieu Lirzin <mthl@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> In order to improve the maintainability of Emacs and to enforce the usage of
>> conventions described by GNU Coding Standards, I think it would be a good
>> idea to use Automake in Emacs build system.
>
> I would be happy to use automake as much as is feasible. I've always found
> maintaining Makefile.am to be a much easier job than Makefile.in.

OK, I have just started working on it today.

Thanks for your enthusiasm,

--
Mathieu Lirzin