Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Nick Roberts]

From configure:

  if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
    { { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&5
  echo "$as_me: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&2;}
     { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
  fi

Do we really want to stop the build process completely just because the online
manuals can't be properly built?

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Stefan Monnier]

>> From configure:
>   if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
>     { { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&5
>   echo "$as_me: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&2;}
>      { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
>   fi

> Do we really want to stop the build process completely just because the online
> manuals can't be properly built?

Indeed, no.  Especially since they are supposed to be pre-built in
the tarball.  The test should/could be moved to the Makefile, maybe?


        Stefan

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Ulrich Mueller]

>>>>> On Fri, 25 Apr 2008, Stefan Monnier wrote:

>>> From configure:
>> if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
>> { { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&5
>> echo "$as_me: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&2;}
>> { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
>> fi

>> Do we really want to stop the build process completely just because the online
>> manuals can't be properly built?

> Indeed, no.  Especially since they are supposed to be pre-built in
> the tarball.  The test should/could be moved to the Makefile, maybe?

Is this really an issue? texinfo 4.6 was released in 2003.

<http://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/> lists it under "Very old
releases, for historical and archeological purposes." :-)

Ulrich

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Ulrich Mueller wrote:

>>> Do we really want to stop the build process completely just
>>> because the online manuals can't be properly built?

The "online manuals" are a vital part of Emacs, so yes...

>> Indeed, no. Especially since they are supposed to be pre-built in
>> the tarball.

...however in many cases they are pre-built.

>>  The test should/could be moved to the Makefile, maybe?
>
> Is this really an issue? texinfo 4.6 was released in 2003.

I agree with you. Perhaps the issue is the need to have _any_ version
of texinfo though.

The info files are already only deleted by `make maintainer-clean',
which "may require special tools to rebuild", so that's fine.
We don't check for autoconf etc either.

One problem I see is that the info files aren't in the CVS, so a fresh
checkout could fail to build. And also any update to the .texi files
will trigger a rebuild. So basically there are only problems with CVS
builds.

Perhaps a check early on in the Makefile will suffice, but it seems
a bit flaky?

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Nick Roberts]

 > >>> Do we really want to stop the build process completely just
 > >>> because the online manuals can't be properly built?
 > 
 > The "online manuals" are a vital part of Emacs, so yes...

They might be desirable but they're not vital.  Emacs still works as an editor,
etc, without them.

 > >> Indeed, no. Especially since they are supposed to be pre-built in
 > >> the tarball.
 > 
 > ...however in many cases they are pre-built.
 > 
 > >>  The test should/could be moved to the Makefile, maybe?
 > >
 > > Is this really an issue? texinfo 4.6 was released in 2003.

I was building Emacs on an old system to test it with an old version of
Gdb.  Clearly it's not a _big_ issue as no-one else has reported a problem
but it seems logical to me that if texinfo is missing/too old then Emacs
just gets built without the manuals and this is reported at configure time.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Nick Roberts wrote:

> Clearly it's not a _big_ issue as no-one else has reported a problem
> but it seems logical to me that if texinfo is missing/too old then
> Emacs just gets built without the manuals and this is reported at
> configure time.

How about doing the same kind of thing as is now done with X and image
libraries: by default configure aborts if these are missing, but you
can pass an option to indicate you want to build without them.

These are features that almost everyone wants, and having configure
just print a message that they are missing was often overlooked.

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Glenn Morris wrote:

> How about doing the same kind of thing as is now done with X and image
> libraries: by default configure aborts if these are missing, but you
> can pass an option to indicate you want to build without them.

Well, that was such a popular idea that I implemented it.

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Jason Rumney]

Glenn Morris wrote:
> Glenn Morris wrote:
>
>   
>> How about doing the same kind of thing as is now done with X and image
>> libraries: by default configure aborts if these are missing, but you
>> can pass an option to indicate you want to build without them.
>>     
>
> Well, that was such a popular idea that I implemented it.
>   

This change is wrong. The distributed tarballs have prebuilt manuals in 
them, so configure should not abort because of makeinfo being missing or 
an old version.

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Jason Rumney wrote:

> This change is wrong. The distributed tarballs have prebuilt manuals in 
> them, so configure should not abort because of makeinfo being missing or 
> an old version.

It already does abort, so this is nothing to do with my latest change.
I have added an explanation, plus a simple way to get past such an abort.

Change it to not abort at all if $srcdir/info/emacs exists if you
like; but personally I think it will be confusing.

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Jason Rumney]

Glenn Morris wrote:
> Jason Rumney wrote:
>
>   
>> This change is wrong. The distributed tarballs have prebuilt manuals in 
>> them, so configure should not abort because of makeinfo being missing or 
>> an old version.
>>     
>
> It already does abort, so this is nothing to do with my latest change.
> I have added an explanation, plus a simple way to get past such an abort.
>
> Change it to not abort at all if $srcdir/info/emacs exists if you
> like; but personally I think it will be confusing.
>   

It is confusing now, as makeinfo is not needed at all to build a 
released version of Emacs, but configure aborts if a recent version is 
not installed.
Your addition of that test on 2007-08-24 should have instead been an 
update to the existing test in the maybe_bootstrap rule of Makefile.in. 
But it looks like you didn't realize that the existing test was there 
until 2008-01-16, when you removed it.

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Jason Rumney wrote:

> It is confusing now, as makeinfo is not needed at all to build a 
> released version of Emacs, but configure aborts if a recent version is 
> not installed.
> Your addition of that test on 2007-08-24 should have instead been an 
> update to the existing test in the maybe_bootstrap rule of Makefile.in. 
> But it looks like you didn't realize that the existing test was there 
> until 2008-01-16, when you removed it.

You're probably right; I'm probably confused.
I'll try and sort it out, but it probably won't be immediate.

This message brought to you by the word "probably". :)

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Date: Sat, 03 May 2008 17:12:56 -0400
> Cc: Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz>, emacs-devel@gnu.org,
> 	Ulrich Mueller <ulm@gentoo.org>, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> 
> Jason Rumney wrote:
> 
> > This change is wrong. The distributed tarballs have prebuilt manuals in 
> > them, so configure should not abort because of makeinfo being missing or 
> > an old version.
> 
> It already does abort, so this is nothing to do with my latest change.
> I have added an explanation, plus a simple way to get past such an abort.
> 
> Change it to not abort at all if $srcdir/info/emacs exists if you
> like; but personally I think it will be confusing.

I agree with Jason: for distributed tarballs, makeinfo should not be
an obstacle.  I don't see what's confusing, either; care to explain?

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> I agree with Jason: for distributed tarballs, makeinfo should not be
> an obstacle.  I don't see what's confusing, either; care to explain?

Patch with explanatory comments.

*** configure.in	3 May 2008 20:16:15 -0000	1.526
--- configure.in	5 May 2008 18:28:14 -0000
***************
*** 896,916 ****
     MAKEINFO=no
  fi
  
! if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no" && test "x${with_makeinfo}" != "xno"; then
! 
!    if test -e $srcdir/info/emacs; then
!       gotinfo="seems"
!    else
!       gotinfo="does NOT seem"
!    fi
! 
!   AC_MSG_ERROR( [You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.6.
! You will not be able to build the Emacs manuals.
! In Emacs releases, they are prebuilt, so this might not be a problem.
! Your source tree $gotinfo to have manuals in the `info' directory.
  Either install a suitable version of makeinfo, or re-run configure
! with the `--without-makeinfo' option.] )
! 
  fi
  
  dnl Add our options to ac_link now, after it is set up.
--- 896,919 ----
     MAKEINFO=no
  fi
  
! ## Makeinfo is unusual.  For a released Emacs, the manuals are
! ## pre-built, and not deleted by the normal clean rules.  makeinfo is
! ## therefore in the category of "special tools" not normally required, which
! ## configure does not have to check for (eg autoconf itself).
! ## In a CVS checkout on the other hand, the manuals are not included.
! ## So makeinfo is a requirement to build from CVS, and configure
! ## should test for it as it does for any other build requirement.
! ## We use the presence of $srcdir/info/emacs to distinguish a release,
! ## with pre-built manuals, from a CVS checkout.
! if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
!   if test "x${with_makeinfo}" = "xno"; then
!     MAKEINFO=off
!   elif ! test -e $srcdir/info/emacs; then
!     AC_MSG_ERROR( [You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.6, and your
! source tree does not seem to have pre-built manuals in the `info' directory.
  Either install a suitable version of makeinfo, or re-run configure
! with the `--without-makeinfo' option to build without the manuals.] )
!   fi
  fi
  
  dnl Add our options to ac_link now, after it is set up.


*** Makefile.in	3 May 2008 20:16:32 -0000	1.345
--- Makefile.in	5 May 2008 18:28:21 -0000
***************
*** 554,560 ****
  	   fi; \
  	   cd ${srcdir}/info ; \
  	   for elt in $(INFO_FILES); do \
! 	      test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "no" && ! test -e $$elt && continue; \
  	      for f in `ls $$elt $$elt-[1-9] $$elt-[1-9][0-9] 2>/dev/null`; do \
  	        ${INSTALL_DATA} $$f $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$f; \
  	        chmod a+r $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$f; \
--- 554,560 ----
  	   fi; \
  	   cd ${srcdir}/info ; \
  	   for elt in $(INFO_FILES); do \
! 	      test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "off" && ! test -e $$elt && continue; \
  	      for f in `ls $$elt $$elt-[1-9] $$elt-[1-9][0-9] 2>/dev/null`; do \
  	        ${INSTALL_DATA} $$f $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$f; \
  	        chmod a+r $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$f; \
***************
*** 566,572 ****
  	if [ `(cd ${srcdir}/info && /bin/pwd)` != `(cd $(DESTDIR)${infodir} && /bin/pwd)` ]; \
  	then \
  	  for elt in $(INFO_FILES); do \
! 	    test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "no" && ! test -e $$elt && continue; \
  	    (cd $${thisdir}; \
  	     ${INSTALL_INFO} --info-dir=$(DESTDIR)${infodir} $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$elt); \
  	  done; \
--- 566,572 ----
  	if [ `(cd ${srcdir}/info && /bin/pwd)` != `(cd $(DESTDIR)${infodir} && /bin/pwd)` ]; \
  	then \
  	  for elt in $(INFO_FILES); do \
! 	    test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "off" && ! test -e $$elt && continue; \
  	    (cd $${thisdir}; \
  	     ${INSTALL_INFO} --info-dir=$(DESTDIR)${infodir} $(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$elt); \
  	  done; \
***************
*** 785,792 ****
  # put the info files in $(srcdir),
  # so we can do ok running make in the build dir.
  info: force-info
! 	@if test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "no"; then \
! 	  echo "Configured without makeinfo, not building manuals" ; \
  	else \
  	  $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) info-real ; \
  	fi
--- 785,795 ----
  # put the info files in $(srcdir),
  # so we can do ok running make in the build dir.
  info: force-info
! 	@if test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "off"; then \
! 	  echo "Configured --without-makeinfo, not building manuals" ; \
! 	elif test "$(MAKEINFO)" = "no"; then \
! 	  echo "makeinfo is missing - cannot build manuals" ; \
! 	  exit 1 ; \
  	else \
  	  $(MAKE) $(MFLAGS) info-real ; \
  	fi

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Nick Roberts]

 > > How about doing the same kind of thing as is now done with X and image
 > > libraries: by default configure aborts if these are missing, but you
 > > can pass an option to indicate you want to build without them.
 > 
 > Well, that was such a popular idea that I implemented it.

But this isn't what is done for all image libraries, is it?  ISTR that with
some libraries, configure just informs the user that they're not there and
builds Emacs without them.  This is what I was suggesting, and I think Jason
might be saying (I've lost his messages).  I'm just not expert enough to
implement that and might end up doing more harm than good.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob

Re: Emacs can't be built without recent makeinfo

[Magnus Henoch]

Nick Roberts <nickrob@snap.net.nz> writes:

> From configure:
>
>   if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
>     { { echo "$as_me:$LINENO: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&5
>   echo "$as_me: error: makeinfo >= 4.6 is required " >&2;}
>      { (exit 1); exit 1; }; }
>   fi
>
> Do we really want to stop the build process completely just because the online
> manuals can't be properly built?

The "missing" script could handle this.  When it doesn't find makeinfo,
it touches the info file if it exists, or otherwise gives an error.

Magnus