[SCM] GNU Autoconf source repository branch, master, updated. v2.61a-389-ga540690

[Eric Blake]

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- Log -----------------------------------------------------------------
commit a5406903ab886eb5d7a9207f89d2aff703d28ffe
Author: Eric Blake <address@hidden>
Date:   Tue Mar 18 19:05:42 2008 -0600

    Emphasize that ease of configure triumphs over ease of autoconf.
    
    * doc/autoconf.texi (Introduction): Expand on primary
    vs. secondary goal of autoconf.
    * THANKS: Update.
    Inspired by Paul Smith.
    
    Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <address@hidden>

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Summary of changes:
 ChangeLog         |    8 ++++++++
 THANKS            |    2 +-
 doc/autoconf.texi |   17 +++++++++++++++++
 3 files changed, 26 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b017fcb..d676859 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,11 @@
+2008-03-19  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
+
+       Emphasize that ease of configure triumphs over ease of autoconf.
+       * doc/autoconf.texi (Introduction): Expand on primary
+       vs. secondary goal of autoconf.
+       * THANKS: Update.
+       Inspired by Paul Smith.
+
 2008-03-17  Ralf Wildenhues  <address@hidden>
 
        * lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm (handle_exec_errors): New argument
diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index 8d83bbd..e3102c1 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -252,7 +252,7 @@ Paolo Bonzini               address@hidden
 Patrick Tullmann            address@hidden
 Patrick Welche              address@hidden
 Paul Berrevoets             address@hidden
-Paul D. Smith               ?
+Paul D. Smith               address@hidden
 Paul Eggert                 address@hidden
 Paul Gampe                  address@hidden
 Paul Jarc                   address@hidden
diff --git a/doc/autoconf.texi b/doc/autoconf.texi
index 9593947..7cee3db 100644
--- a/doc/autoconf.texi
+++ b/doc/autoconf.texi
@@ -678,6 +678,23 @@ reason, it needs to be changed in only one place; all of 
the
 configuration scripts can be regenerated automatically to take advantage
 of the updated code.
 
+Those who do not understand Autoconf are doomed to reinvent it.  The
+primary goal of Autoconf is making the @emph{user's} life easier; making
+the @emph{maintainer's} life easier is only a secondary goal.  Put
+another way, the primary goal is not to make the generation of
address@hidden automatic for package maintainers (although patches
+along that front are welcome, since package maintainers form the user
+base of Autoconf); rather, the goal is to make @file{configure}
+painless, portable, and predictable for the end user of each
address@hidden package.  And to this degree, Autoconf is highly
+successful at its goal --- most complaints to the Autoconf list are
+about difficulties in writing Autoconf input, and not in the behavior of
+the resulting @file{configure}.  Even packages that don't use Autoconf
+will generally provide a @file{configure} script, and the most common
+complaint about these alternative home-grown scripts is that they fail
+to meet one or more of the @acronym{GNU} Coding Standards that users
+have come to expect from Autoconf-generated @file{configure} scripts.
+
 The Metaconfig package is similar in purpose to Autoconf, but the
 scripts it produces require manual user intervention, which is quite
 inconvenient when configuring large source trees.  Unlike Metaconfig


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