bug#37499: Wrong location of deps directory when using AC_SUBST

[Fabrizio Bertocci]

Hans, 

Yes, the project is very uncommon, and I agree the lib should be inside the project directory structure, but I had this issue a long long time ago when working on an embedded system that shared some libraries between host and target machine.

I don't know if it's even a bug or just an unsupported condition that leads to unexpected results.

Regards,

Fabrizio

On Tue, Nov 24, 2020 at 5:24 PM Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker@t-online.de> wrote:

Am 24.11.2020 um 21:09 schrieb Fabrizio Bertocci:
> Karl,
> It took me a while to remember what this issue was about... but I
> managed to get to my old reproducer.
>
> Ok, let me do one step back. The root problem is how do I ensure that
> paths passed through ./configure command line are valid when building
> source code under 'src' (for example).
>
> Look at the two attached .tar.gz. and un-tar the one called
> 'autotool-bug-rel.tar.gz'.
> In this project I have:
> /proj             <- Here is where is the configure script
> /proj/src       <- Here is the source code
> /lib               <- This is another location of some lib I want to be
> able to define through ./configure
>
> Enter the `proj/src` and generate the configure script (./bootstrap.sh
> or just use autoreconf).

How is that possible, given the configure script is supposed to be in
'proj', not 'proj/src'?

> Launch it with:
> ./configure --with-mylib=../lib

Similar problem here.  If you are where you say, in proj/src, that would
have to be ../../lib.

So let's assume you meant to say that CWD is 'proj'.

Well, I don't think it was ever meant to be possible that sources lie
outside the subtree configure itself is in.

IOW, $(top_srcdir) is, by definition, the location of the ./configure
script, and it actually has to be what it says in the name: the _top_
source directory for stuff built by that configure and its resulting
Makefile.

The source tree should thus be

proj         configury here
proj/src     sources here
proj/lib     other sources here

This may actually be related to my ancient bug entry #20699.