bug#45205: Failed tests for 1.16.3 on Solaris

[Karl Berry]

Hi Dagobert - thanks for the report.

Regarding Solaris lex, and maybe other compiler tools - yes, the failure
is known (another bug with the same issue:
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=44795). Unfortunately I
cannot debug, not having any access to this system, or those tools, or
enough available time to want to spend it dealing with proprietary tools
even given a system. I'm happy to install patches if you, or anyone, can
figure out the problem(s).

Regarding the python failures: apparently the failure is because a use
of $(...) slipped into the py-compile script. As we all know, that
construct is not supported by Solaris /bin/sh. I'll fix py-compile. You
can do it locally if you want in the meantime, it's just one obvious
line:
python_major=$($PYTHON -V 2>&1 | sed -e 's/.* //;s/\..*$//;1q')

BTW, current config.{guess,sub} assume $(...) -- a recent change. I
reported this as a problem but no reversion has been forthcoming. You
might or might not want to report it also. My original message:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/config-patches/2020-12/msg00000.html

Regarding vala-mix2: this one might have been solved in the meantime.
Timestamp problem.

Regarding the other failures: I admit I cannot discern the problem just
from inspecting the log, nor can I debug at a distance. Sorry. Patches
welcome, as above. 

For what it's worth, the changes for 1.16.3 (and 1.16.2) were
minor. Nothing that knowingly broke Solaris or induced dependencies on
newer tools. Most of the failing tests were not touched. So I'm sadly
unclear as to what's going on.

I'm going to mark this bug as "confirmed" and also "needs help",
since I can't solve it :(.

All the best,
Karl