Re: Aclocal bug?

[Gary V. Vaughan]

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Hallo Stepan!

On 9 Nov 2006, at 08:59, Stepan Kasal wrote:
> wow this is an interesting bug, I enjoyed analysing it!

And I enjoyed your analysis!  Thankyou :-)

> On Wed, Nov 08, 2006 at 11:49:31PM -0600, Gary V. Vaughan wrote:
> > On 8 Nov 2006, at 13:17, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > > * Gary V. Vaughan wrote on Wed, Nov 08, 2006 at 06:34:45AM CET:
> > > > configure.ac:147: warning: AM_INTL_SUBDIR is m4_require'd but not
> > > > m4_defun'd
>
> I tried to reproduce your bug, and I succeeded!  Actually, it was
> because I'm still using Fedora Core 4 and have m4 1.4.3.
>
> > As I haven't built CVS m4 yet, the only binary in my path is the  
> > Apple
> > shipped m4-1.4.2 in /usr/bin.
>
> The cause is the following bug:
>
> $ echo "ifdef(\`MAC', bug)" |m4 --trace=MAC
> bug
>
> I observed it in 1.4.[34], while 1.4.5 seems to be fixed.
>
> To build m4 HEAD, upgrade to m4 >= 1.4.5 first and things will just
> work!

Yes, that fixes it for me too.  It's a shame that we have this ugly
bootstrap problem though... anyone who is interested in using CVS M4
on a machine that ships GNU M4 < 1.4.5 (e.g. Apple!) needs to first
install from a GNU M4 release tarball in order to be able to be able
to bootstrap the HEAD tree :-(

> I think that Autoconf should require m4 >= 1.4.5.
>
> (Autoconf's confgiure should check for it; should it be done in
> m4/m4.m4 in AM_PROG_GNU_M4, or in configure.ac?)

I agree.  Both when building and installing the tools from source,
autoconf's configure should complain if the installed m4 is not new
enough; and also when bootstrapping Autoconf itself, a diagnostic for
too old a GNU M4 should given when necessary.

> > I've spent the last 12 hours in the saddle, so it'll be another 24
> > hours until the next entry :-)
>
> Great.  I wish you safe ride without any accident!

Thanks,
        Gary
- --
Gary V. Vaughan      ())_.  address@hidden
Research Scientist   ( '/   http://blog.azazil.net
GNU Hacker           / )=   http://www.gnu.org/software/{libtool,m4}
Technical Author   `(_~)_   http://sources.redhat.com/autobook



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