Re: 05no-escape-on-AT_CHECK-strings

[Akim Demaille]

 Derek> Akim Demaille wrote:
 >> I am absolutely against this patch.  Revert it.
 >> 
 >> If you want something like this, you will first need to explain it.
 >> 

 Derek> Again, CVS's current test suite often compares program output against
 Derek> shell variables defined earlier in the script.

Then save these values in an expout file, and use [expout] as STDOUT
value.

 Derek> A simple example of this is that CVS uses a configure option,
 Derek> provided by Autoconf, to allow setting of the program prefix
 Derek> (AC_PROGRAM_PREFIX). This can alter CVS's $0 and thus its
 Derek> error messages.  If AC_CHECK doesn't escape the STDOUT &
 Derek> STDERR strings then variables like this can be passed in for
 Derek> comparison.

I might miss something, but you want to read some piece of
documentation here:

http://www.lrde.epita.fr/~akim/compil/gnuprog2.html#Software%20Testing%20with%20Autotest

and especially all the fuss about wrappers.  I think Autoconf's
documentation also includes information about wrappers.  Have a look
at m4.in in CVS m4:

----------------------------------------
#! /bin/sh
# @configure_input@
# Wrapper around a non installed m4 to make it work as an installed one.

"@abs_top_builddir@/src/m4" \
      --module-directory="@abs_top_builddir@/modules" \
      ${1+"$@"} 2>/tmp/m4-$$
status=$?
# Normalize stderr.
# - If configure --disable-shared, then src/m4 is a real program,
#   neutralize the full path display
# - otherwise, it is a  libtool wrapper, relying on PATH to execute the
#   actual program, either lt-m4, or m4.
#
# - In both cases, beware of .exe.
sed 's,^[^:]*[lt-]*m4[.ex]*:,m4:,' /tmp/m4-$$ >&2
rm /tmp/m4-$$

exit $status
----------------------------------------

For a different approach (not recommended actually, I should change
this and move it into the wrapper), see Autoconf's

# AT_CHECK_AUTOM4TE(FLAGS, [EXIT-STATUS = 0], STDOUT, STDERR)
# -----------------------------------------------------------
# If stderr is specified, normalize the observed stderr.  E.g. (GNU M4 1.5):
#
#  /usr/local/bin/m4: script.4s: 1: Cannot open foo: No such file or directory
#  autom4te: /usr/local/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
#
# or (using gm4 as GNU M4 1.4):
#
#  script.4s:1: /usr/local/bin/gm4: Cannot open foo: No such file or directory
#  autom4te: /usr/local/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
#
# becomes
#
#  m4: script.4s: 1: Cannot open foo: No such file or directory
#  autom4te: m4 failed with exit status: 1
#
# We use the following sed patterns:
#
#     (file): (line): (m4):
# or  (m4): (file): (line):
# to  m4: (file): (line):
#
# and
#     autom4te: [^ ]m4
# to  autom4te: m4
m4_define([AT_CHECK_AUTOM4TE],
[AT_CHECK([autom4te $1], [$2], [$3], m4_ifval([$4], [stderr]))
m4_ifval([$4],
[AT_CHECK([[sed -e 's,^\([^:]*\): *\([0-9][0-9]*\): *[^:]*m4: ,m4: \1: \2: ,' \
                -e 's,^[^:]*m4: *\([^:]*\): *\([0-9][0-9]*\): ,m4: \1: \2: ,' \
                -e 's/^autom4te: [^ ]*m4 /autom4te: m4 /' \
                -e 's/^autom4te: [^ ]*m4.exe /autom4te: m4 /' \
                -e 's/ (E[A-Z]*)$//' \
           stderr]], [0],[$4])])
])