Re: Can't call AC_PROG_CXX conditionally

[Akim Demaille]

 >> Something should be done, agreed.

 Ralf> Should? You must be kidding - face it: autoconf is broken to an extend
 Ralf> it is not applicable in real world, anymore.

Well, if that's the way you want to say it, I can't do anything.  My
opinion is that this is indeed a serious problem, but in itself does
not suffice to throw away Autoconf.  It's been like this since the
very first day of Autoconf.

I'd like to know what's the behavior people would expect in such a
case.  For instance, what do you expect for

   AC_INIT
   if false; then
     AC_PROG_CXX
   fi
   AC_LANG(C++)
   AC_CHECK_FUNCS(foo)
   
Or even what you expect for the Makefiles.

Autoconf was designed with the fundamental fact that compiler (=
language support) is not an option: it's a must.  Now people want
optional language support; it has to be designed.

It is not at all clear to me that the above example is valid.  It
seems to me that the requirement for a compiler holds for the whole
configure, so that ``grain'' for an optional compiler is not the one
above.

But I'm open to other considerations.