bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Package: emacs
Version: 28.0.50
Tags: help

I suspect that the Makefile dependencies for info files could be
incomplete as of 4825ea3c5d. The symptoms would be info related errors
in parallel builds, and missing files in info/dir.
I would appreciate it if someone would review it.

It's not made any easier by:
1) Catering for systems without makeinfo - I would suggest dropping this.
2) All the nested phony info rules.

Other possible improvements:
1) build-aux/make-info-dir to parse .org sources (for texinfo_dir_category)
in preference to .texi ones if the former exist.
2) Replace dependency on info files with one on generated texi files,
where it makes sense.

(Personally I find this quite a PITA, both from the point of view of
Makefile rules, and from now needing to know two markup syntaxes to
maintain Emacs's manuals. End of complaint.)

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Date: Sun, 28 Feb 2021 18:39:40 -0500
> 
> I suspect that the Makefile dependencies for info files could be
> incomplete as of 4825ea3c5d. The symptoms would be info related errors
> in parallel builds, and missing files in info/dir.
> I would appreciate it if someone would review it.

Is the fact that we now rebuild info/dir each time we run "make", even
if nothing else is rebuilt, part of this issue?

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Is the fact that we now rebuild info/dir each time we run "make", even
> if nothing else is rebuilt, part of this issue?

Probably. I can't reproduce that at 9e94509267. I did not try before.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Glenn Morris wrote:

> 1) Catering for systems without makeinfo - I would suggest dropping this.

By which I meant, remove configure --without-makeinfo and special-casing
HAVE_MAKEINFO=no in the Makefile, thus removing the need for the
"info-real" target.

configure not finding makeinfo would continue to be non-fatal if
info/emacs.info exists, to cater for release tarfiles where info files
are pre-built.

> 1) build-aux/make-info-dir to parse .org sources (for texinfo_dir_category)
> in preference to .texi ones if the former exist.

Done in bd443f4e9c..9e94509267.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Cc: 46837@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2021 13:53:14 -0500
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > Is the fact that we now rebuild info/dir each time we run "make", even
> > if nothing else is rebuilt, part of this issue?
> 
> Probably. I can't reproduce that at 9e94509267. I did not try before.

Yes, it stopped now.  Thanks.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Glenn Morris wrote:

>> 1) Catering for systems without makeinfo - I would suggest dropping this.
>
> By which I meant, remove configure --without-makeinfo and special-casing
> HAVE_MAKEINFO=no in the Makefile, thus removing the need for the
> "info-real" target.
>
> configure not finding makeinfo would continue to be non-fatal if
> info/emacs.info exists, to cater for release tarfiles where info files
> are pre-built.

diff --git i/Makefile.in w/Makefile.in
index 856c29a453..85d063d8f6 100644
--- i/Makefile.in
+++ w/Makefile.in
@@ -166,9 +166,6 @@ infodir=@infodir@
 # Info files not in the doc/misc directory (we get those via make echo-info).
 INFO_NONMISC=emacs.info eintr.info elisp.info
 
-# If no makeinfo was found and configured --without-makeinfo, "no"; else "yes".
-HAVE_MAKEINFO=@HAVE_MAKEINFO@
-
 # Directory for local state files for all programs.
 localstatedir=@localstatedir@
 
@@ -650,9 +647,6 @@ install-etcdoc: src install-arch-indep
 ## If info/dir is missing, but we have install-info, we should let
 ## that handle it.  If info/dir is present and we do not have install-info,
 ## we should check for missing entries and add them by hand.
-##
-## FIXME:
-## If HAVE_MAKEINFO = no and there are no info files, do not install info/dir.
 install-info: info
 	umask 022; ${MKDIR_P} "$(DESTDIR)${infodir}"
 	-unset CDPATH; \
@@ -667,7 +661,6 @@ install-info: info
 	   info_misc=`$(MAKE) --no-print-directory -s -C doc/misc echo-info`; \
 	   cd ${srcdir}/info ; \
 	   for elt in ${INFO_NONMISC} $${info_misc}; do \
-	      test "$(HAVE_MAKEINFO)" = "no" && test ! -f $$elt && continue; \
 	      for f in `ls $$elt $$elt-[1-9] $$elt-[1-9][0-9] 2>/dev/null`; do \
 	       (cd "$${thisdir}"; \
 	        ${INSTALL_DATA} ${srcdir}/info/$$f "$(DESTDIR)${infodir}/$$f"); \
@@ -987,13 +980,13 @@ $(DOCS):
 	$(MAKE) -C doc/$(subst -, ,$@)
 
 .PHONY: $(DOCS) docs pdf ps
-.PHONY: info dvi dist html info-real info-dir check-info
+.PHONY: info dvi dist html info-dir check-info
 
 ## TODO add etc/refcards.
 docs: $(DOCS)
 dvi: $(DVIS)
 html: $(HTMLS)
-info-real: $(INFOS)
+info: $(INFOS) info-dir
 pdf: $(PDFS)
 ps: $(PSS)
 
@@ -1027,7 +1020,7 @@ info_dir_deps = \
 ## installation location by the install-info rule, but we also
 ## need one in the source directory for people running uninstalled.
 ## FIXME it would be faster to use the install-info program if we have it,
-## but then we would need to depend on info-real, which would
+## but then we would need to depend on ${INFOS}, which would
 ## slow down parallelization.
 ${srcdir}/info/dir: ${info_dir_deps}
 	$(AM_V_at)${MKDIR_P} ${srcdir}/info
@@ -1082,24 +1075,6 @@ uninstall-html: $(UNINSTALL_HTML)
 uninstall-pdf: $(UNINSTALL_PDF)
 uninstall-ps: $(UNINSTALL_PS)
 
-
-# Note that man/Makefile knows how to put the info files in $(srcdir),
-# so we can do ok running make in the build dir.
-# This used to have a clause that exited with an error if MAKEINFO = no.
-# But it is inappropriate to do so without checking if makeinfo is
-# actually needed - it is not if the info files are up-to-date.  (Bug#3982)
-# Only the doc/*/Makefiles can decide that, so we let those rules run
-# and give a standard error if makeinfo is needed but missing.
-# While it would be nice to give a more detailed error message, that
-# would require changing every rule in doc/ that builds an info file,
-# and it's not worth it.  This case is only relevant if you download a
-# release, then change the .texi files.
-ifneq ($(HAVE_MAKEINFO),no)
-info: info-real info-dir
-else
-info:
-endif
-
 ## build-aux/make-info-dir expects only certain dircategories.
 check-info: info
 	cd info ; \
diff --git i/configure.ac w/configure.ac
index 11a06a39be..385a126dd3 100644
--- i/configure.ac
+++ w/configure.ac
@@ -506,11 +506,6 @@ otherwise for the first of 'inotify', 'kqueue' or 'gfile' that is usable.])
 OPTION_DEFAULT_OFF([xwidgets],
   [enable use of xwidgets in Emacs buffers (requires gtk3 or macOS Cocoa)])
 
-## For the times when you want to build Emacs but don't have
-## a suitable makeinfo, and can live without the manuals.
-dnl https://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-devel/2008-04/msg01844.html
-OPTION_DEFAULT_ON([makeinfo],[don't require makeinfo for building manuals])
-
 ## Makefile.in needs the cache file name.
 AC_SUBST(cache_file)
 
@@ -1344,14 +1339,13 @@ if test -n "$BREW"; then
 fi
 
 ## Require makeinfo >= 4.13 (last of the 4.x series) to build the manuals.
-if test "${MAKEINFO:=makeinfo}" != "no"; then
-  case `($MAKEINFO --version) 2>/dev/null` in
-    *' (GNU texinfo) '4.1[[3-9]]* | \
-    *' (GNU texinfo) '[[5-9]]* | \
-    *' (GNU texinfo) '[[1-9][0-9]]* ) ;;
-    *) MAKEINFO=no;;
-  esac
-fi
+: ${MAKEINFO:=makeinfo}
+case `($MAKEINFO --version) 2>/dev/null` in
+  *' (GNU texinfo) '4.1[[3-9]]* | \
+  *' (GNU texinfo) '[[5-9]]* | \
+  *' (GNU texinfo) '[[1-9][0-9]]* ) ;;
+  *) MAKEINFO=no;;
+esac
 
 ## Makeinfo is unusual.  For a released Emacs, the manuals are
 ## pre-built, and not deleted by the normal clean rules.  makeinfo is
@@ -1362,21 +1356,19 @@ fi
 ## should test for it as it does for any other build requirement.
 ## We use the presence of $srcdir/info/emacs to distinguish a release,
 ## with pre-built manuals, from a repository checkout.
-HAVE_MAKEINFO=yes
-
 if test "$MAKEINFO" = "no"; then
   MAKEINFO=makeinfo
-  if test "x${with_makeinfo}" = "xno"; then
-    HAVE_MAKEINFO=no
-  elif test ! -e "$srcdir/info/emacs" && test ! -e "$srcdir/info/emacs.info"; then
+  if test ! -e "$srcdir/info/emacs" && test ! -e "$srcdir/info/emacs.info"; then
     AC_MSG_ERROR( [You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.13, 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.] )
+Please install a suitable version of makeinfo.] )
+  else
+    AC_MSG_WARN( [You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.13.
+You will not be able to rebuild the manuals if you delete them or change
+their sources.] )
   fi
 fi
 AC_SUBST([MAKEINFO])
-AC_SUBST(HAVE_MAKEINFO)
 
 if test $opsys = mingw32; then
    DOCMISC_W32=efaq-w32
diff --git i/etc/NEWS w/etc/NEWS
index 3522fce03a..ff2fe656ec 100644
--- i/etc/NEWS
+++ w/etc/NEWS
@@ -66,6 +66,9 @@ shaping, so 'configure' now recommends that combination.
 ** The ftx font backend driver has been removed.
 It was declared obsolete in Emacs 27.1.
 
+---
+** The configure option '--without-makeinfo' has been removed.
+
 ---
 ** Support for building with '-fcheck-pointer-bounds' has been removed.
 GCC has withdrawn the '-fcheck-pointer-bounds' option and support for

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2021 23:45:26 -0500
> 
> Glenn Morris wrote:
> 
> >> 1) Catering for systems without makeinfo - I would suggest dropping this.
> >
> > By which I meant, remove configure --without-makeinfo and special-casing
> > HAVE_MAKEINFO=no in the Makefile, thus removing the need for the
> > "info-real" target.
> >
> > configure not finding makeinfo would continue to be non-fatal if
> > info/emacs.info exists, to cater for release tarfiles where info files
> > are pre-built.

So the poor souls who don't have makeinfo could "touch info/emacs.info"
and have the build continue instead of failing?  If this works, I
think it's a fine solution.  It would be even better if the advice to
"touch info/emacs.info" would be included in the error message printed
when we find no makeinfo.

Thanks.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> So the poor souls who don't have makeinfo could "touch info/emacs.info"
> and have the build continue instead of failing?  If this works, I
> think it's a fine solution.  It would be even better if the advice to
> "touch info/emacs.info" would be included in the error message printed
> when we find no makeinfo.

I would not recommend that, which in any case would only get past the
configure step, leaving make to fail. Instead I would recommend
installing makeinfo, which is widely available and where even an
ancient version will do.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Stefan Kangas]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> I would not recommend that, which in any case would only get past the
> configure step, leaving make to fail. Instead I would recommend
> installing makeinfo, which is widely available and where even an
> ancient version will do.

Sounds reasonable.  I don't see why you should need to build Emacs from
the git repository on systems where you can't install makeinfo.

Building from git should mostly be for development and brave souls
wanting to try the bleeding edge.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Cc: 46837@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:23:26 -0500
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > So the poor souls who don't have makeinfo could "touch info/emacs.info"
> > and have the build continue instead of failing?  If this works, I
> > think it's a fine solution.  It would be even better if the advice to
> > "touch info/emacs.info" would be included in the error message printed
> > when we find no makeinfo.
> 
> I would not recommend that, which in any case would only get past the
> configure step, leaving make to fail.

So it will fail even if all the Info files are already in the tree,
when makeinfo is not available?  Or are you saying that in order for
"make" not to fail one must touch not just info/emacs.info, but also
all the rest of the *.info files?

> Instead I would recommend installing makeinfo, which is widely
> available and where even an ancient version will do.

No argument there, I was talking about fire escape.  After all, we are
removing a "feature" that existed in previous releases.  It would be
good to tell people how to get back the old behavior, I think.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> So it will fail even if all the Info files are already in the tree,
> when makeinfo is not available?  Or are you saying that in order for
> "make" not to fail one must touch not just info/emacs.info, but also
> all the rest of the *.info files?

?

If all the info file are already there, make will see that they are newer
than their dependencies, so it won't try to rebuild them.
There's no need to "touch" anything, and I would/did not recommend
doing so.

> No argument there, I was talking about fire escape.  After all, we are
> removing a "feature" that existed in previous releases.  

--without-makeinfo was always irrelevant in _releases_, where the info
files are pre-built.

> It would be good to tell people how to get back the old behavior, I
> think.

They can always do "make lisp" (I think) instead of "make [all]".

Or you can add a target "all-noinfo" which is just "all" without "info",
but I don't know who the users of such a target would be.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org>
> Cc: 46837@debbugs.gnu.org
> Date: Sat, 06 Mar 2021 12:38:38 -0500
> 
> Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> 
> > So it will fail even if all the Info files are already in the tree,
> > when makeinfo is not available?  Or are you saying that in order for
> > "make" not to fail one must touch not just info/emacs.info, but also
> > all the rest of the *.info files?
> 
> ?
> 
> If all the info file are already there, make will see that they are newer
> than their dependencies, so it won't try to rebuild them.
> There's no need to "touch" anything, and I would/did not recommend
> doing so.

I was talking about the case where the Info files aren't there, and
makeinfo is not available.

> > No argument there, I was talking about fire escape.  After all, we are
> > removing a "feature" that existed in previous releases.  
> 
> --without-makeinfo was always irrelevant in _releases_, where the info
> files are pre-built.

I wasn't talking about releases, either.

> > It would be good to tell people how to get back the old behavior, I
> > think.
> 
> They can always do "make lisp" (I think) instead of "make [all]".

If that works, let's say so in NEWS, and be done.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Michael Albinus]

Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> I would not recommend that, which in any case would only get past the
>> configure step, leaving make to fail. Instead I would recommend
>> installing makeinfo, which is widely available and where even an
>> ancient version will do.
>
> Sounds reasonable.  I don't see why you should need to build Emacs from
> the git repository on systems where you can't install makeinfo.
>
> Building from git should mostly be for development and brave souls
> wanting to try the bleeding edge.

Builds on emba fail now:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
configure: error: You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.13, and your
source tree does not seem to have pre-built manuals in the 'info' directory.
Please install a suitable version of makeinfo.
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

And no, we don't install texinfo every single test run. Performance, and
the like.

I have applied "touch info/emacs" prior the "./configure" step, but then
"make bootstrap" fails with the error shown above.

See also <https://emba.gnu.org/emacs/emacs/-/jobs/14482/raw>.

Best regards, Michael.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Michael Albinus wrote:

> configure: error: You do not seem to have makeinfo >= 4.13, and your
> source tree does not seem to have pre-built manuals in the 'info' directory.
> Please install a suitable version of makeinfo.

I can only repeat the advice in NEWS:

  Please install makeinfo, or if all else fails run 'make lisp' instead
  of 'make [all]'.

> I have applied "touch info/emacs" prior the "./configure" step, but then
> "make bootstrap" fails with the error shown above.

I do not and have never recommended "touch info/emacs", please forget
this was ever mentioned.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Michael Albinus]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

Hi Glenn,

> I can only repeat the advice in NEWS:
>
>   Please install makeinfo, or if all else fails run 'make lisp' instead
>   of 'make [all]'.

Installing makeinfo means installing texinfo, which needs installing TeX
(IIUC). That's a heavy load for a test run on emba.

Calling "make lisp" is not applicable, when we call "make
bootstrap". The latter one is broken for *everybody* who hasn't
installed makeinfo; the advice in etc/NEWS is useless.

> I do not and have never recommended "touch info/emacs", please forget
> this was ever mentioned.

I know, and it was just a try.

Best regards, Michael.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Michael Albinus wrote:

> Installing makeinfo means installing texinfo, which needs installing TeX
> (IIUC).

texinfo does not require TeX.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Michael Albinus wrote:

> Calling "make lisp" is not applicable, when we call "make bootstrap".

make maintainer-clean # or bootstrap-clean if you prefer
./autogen.sh
./configure
make lisp

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Michael Albinus]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

>> Installing makeinfo means installing texinfo, which needs installing TeX
>> (IIUC).
>
> texinfo does not require TeX.

Well, then I'll try this way. Thanks!

Best regards, Michael.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Glenn Morris]

Glenn Morris wrote:

> make maintainer-clean # or bootstrap-clean if you prefer
> ./autogen.sh
> ./configure
> make lisp

Obviously this will fail at the configure step if makeinfo is not present.
I shouldn't have tried to provide workarounds (though something like the
above can be useful eg when bisecting).
makeinfo is a small package with small dependencies.

bug#46837: Makefile dependencies for info files

[Michael Albinus]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

Hi Glenn,

>> make maintainer-clean # or bootstrap-clean if you prefer
>> ./autogen.sh
>> ./configure
>> make lisp
>
> Obviously this will fail at the configure step if makeinfo is not present.

At least for me it is solved, since I have decided to install also
texinfo on emba. Thanks for the explanation (that it doesn't depend on TeX)!

Best regards, Michael.