Re: [PATCH] -C, --synclines-as-comments

[Eric Blake]

Sorry for a belated reply,
[my free time for m4 has been lacking of late]

On 5/3/20 8:20 PM, docelic-m4@spinlocksolutions.com wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Attached is a prototype patch which adds option -C (--synclines-as-comments).

Is this going to be a common enough feature to warrant the immediate use
of a short-option letter, or can it start as just a long-option?

> 
> When enabled, it is intended to output synclines enclosed in comment
> delimiters. This is useful for using m4 and option -s outside of the
> context of a C compiler.
> 
> Example:
> 
> #config.m4:
> changecom(`(*', `*)')
> define(A, B)
> 
> #file1.m4:
> A
> 
> # m4 config.m4 -s file1.m4
> (* #line 1 "file1.m4" *)
> B
> 
> I do not have the latest toolchain needed to build m4 so the patch
> is a prototype; it needs a couple more lines to work. Please
> complete it if possible.

Are you interested in working on this more?  It would need documentation
updates, and seems non-trivial enough that you would need to assign
copyright to the FSF.  If you are interested, I can follow up offline
with how to proceed.


-- 
Eric Blake, Principal Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc.           +1-919-301-3226
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