Re: [patch 01/15] autoreconf doesnt always do the right thing, add manual variant

[Marc Kleine-Budde <mkl@pengutronix.de>]

Hi,

Robert Schwebel wrote:
>>> As autoreconf doesn't always recreate all necessary files, do the steps
>>> required to create everything that's needed manually. We also need
>>> config/m4 in order to put the autogenerated m4 files there.
>> I pretty much have to take your word on that I guess - which I'm happy to do.  
>> It seems in slight contradiction though to your previous statement 
>> encouraging us to stick to the autotools defaults for distribution so as to 
>> allow the tools to do their job and not accidentally miss something by doing 
>> it manually. Is this just a common exception to that rule?
> 
> We recently tried to use autoreconf to build the config files from
> scratch, but although it works much better than before, we've found some
> problems, so let's better stay with the proven old method.

Yes...

> However, Marc may be able to elaborate more about the problems; he is
> our autotool wizzard :)

I've had problems with the old debian stable a.k.a. sarge and autoreconf 
with a normal autoconf/automake/libtool package.

Robert had problems with autoreconf on debian testing (lenny) with a 
project using autoconf/automake/libtool + libltdl

>>> Index: config/m4/.secret_world_domination_project
>>> ===================================================================
>>> --- /dev/null
>>> +++ config/m4/.secret_world_domination_project
>>> @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
>>> +
>>> +
>> And what is this all about? :-)
> 
> Psssst, it's secret! :)

> It's just to make sure that config/m4/ is not empty, which would mean
> that it would sometimes disappear.

Right - with "AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([config/m4])" in configure.ac we 
instruct autoconf to put all autogenerated suff into config/m4, to keep 
the root of the project clean. If you run autogen or autoreconf this 
directory must be existent, at least with the tool when I collected our 
autoconf-skeleton (about 1,5 years ago). This file ensures that this 
directory is present.

Marc

-- 
  Dipl.-Ing. Marc Kleine-Budde | http://www.pengutronix.de
   Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
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