2012-04-24 Eric Blake Release Version 2.69. * NEWS: Mention the release. 2012-04-24 Eric Blake maint: drop bz2 tarball At 2.68b, I asked whether anyone would miss .gz and .bz2 formats. Consensus was overwhelming that .gz still holds a place in people's hearts, in spite of .xz compressing to smaller files, but no one was able to make a convincing argument for .bz2. * configure.ac (AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE): Drop bzip2; xz wins hands down. 2012-04-24 Eric Blake maint: resync files from upstream The files in lib/Autom4te/ are intentionally not synced at this point, since this recent Automake patch: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake-patches/2012-03/msg00111.html was buggy regarding '-' as stdout, and also exposes some latent bugs in autoconf where we use raw 'open' instead of XFile::open. * build-aux/announce-gen: Resync via 'make fetch'. * build-aux/config.sub: Likewise. * build-aux/git-version-gen: Likewise. * build-aux/gnupload: Likewise. * build-aux/move-if-change: Likewise. * build-aux/texinfo.tex: Likewise. * doc/standards.texi: Likewise. * maint.mk: Likewise. 2012-04-24 Eric Blake doc: fix bad @xref uses Upstream gnulib maint.mk improvements caught a few issues we should fix, as well as a few issues in files we copy from other sources that we will just ignore here. * doc/autoconf.texi (Generic Programs, Special Shell Variables) (Limitations of Builtins): Use references correctly. * cfg.mk (exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_prohibit_undesirable_word_seq) (exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_useless_cpp_parens): Add exemptions. 2012-04-24 Bruno Haible AC_INIT: remove a transitional warning On bi-arch systems (such as x86 / x86_64) it is often necessary to pass the --host option together with an appropriate value for CC. But this triggers a warning: $ ./configure --host=i686-pc-linux-gnu CC="gcc -m32 -march=i586" configure: WARNING: if you wanted to set the --build type, don't use --host. If a cross compiler is detected then cross compile mode will be used .. This warning was introduced on 2000-06-30, in commit with the remark "Re-enable the old behavior of --host and --build." This warning was meant to warn users about a changed semantics of --build and --host. This change is now 12 years in the past; users have had enough time to learn it. I therefore suggest to remove the warning. I've done lots of cross and bi-arch compilations in the last 10 years, all with --host and without --build, and have never observed a problem with it, except for the warning. Simply relying on config.guess is sufficient. * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (_AC_INIT_PARSE_ARGS): Don't warn if --host given without --build. 2012-04-24 Bruno Haible doc: fix incorrect and incomplete doc about cross-compilation mode * doc/autoconf.texi (Runtime): Mention the effect of the cross- compilation mode on AC_RUN_IFELSE. (Specifying Target Triplets): Fix description of --host's effects. (Hosts and Cross-Compilation): Remove incorrect statement about --host's effects. 2012-04-23 Paul Eggert doc: document --build and cross-compilation better * doc/autoconf.texi (Specifying Target Triplets): Mention that specifying a build-type that differs from host-type enables cross-compilation. Problem reported by Bruno Haible in: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf-patches/2012-04/msg00009.html 2012-04-11 Jim Meyering maint: avoid "make syntax-check" failure * cfg.mk (old_NEWS_hash): Update to reflect typo fix in old news. 2012-03-28 Stefano Lattarini cosmetics fix imprecise comment in Autom4te::General * lib/Autom4te/General.pm: This file is *not* used by Automake; adjust comments accordingly. 2012-03-07 Paul Eggert tests: fix port of AT_CHECK_ENV to hosts with flaky grep * tests/local.at (AT_CHECK_ENV): Don't copy the buggy grep's diagnostics to stderr, as that causes AT_CHECK to fail. They can be found in the stderr-* files if this is needed for debugging. 2012-03-07 Eric Blake docs: document set -n pitfalls * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) : Document issues with set -n. 2012-03-07 Eric Blake build: require perl 5.6 This reduces the implicit requirement from 5.6.2 back to 5.6, while raising the explicit requirement to match the actual code. * configure.ac (PERL): Fail up front if perl is too old. * NEWS: Document this. * README: Likewise. * README-hacking: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/ChannelDefs.pm: Bump requirement. * lib/Autom4te/General.pm: Relax requirement. 2012-03-07 Eric Blake tests: ignore ksh -n warnings Recent ksh is noisy: $ ksh -nc '``'; echo $? ksh: warning: line 1: `...` obsolete, use $(...) 0 * tests/local.at (AT_CHECK_SHELL_SYNTAX): Ignore noisy ksh on. Reported by Martin Zaun. 2012-03-06 Paul Eggert tests: port AT_CHECK_ENV to hosts with flaky grep * tests/local.at (AT_CHECK_ENV): Don't assume that if one grep fails, the other will too. It could be that 'grep' is flaky, and fails somewhat at random. This would explain the problems reported for autoconf-2.68b on FreeBSD and MacOS X, for example: 2012-03-06 Stefano Lattarini maint: resync files from upstream Since the perl version required in Automake::Getopt has been recently lowered from 5.6.2 to 5.6.0, this change has the nice effect of making autoconf compatible again with all perls in the 5.6.x release series. * maint.mk: Resync via 'make fetch'. * lib/Autom4te/Channels.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Configure_ac.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Getopt.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/XFile.pm: Likewise. 2012-03-05 Stefano Lattarini maint: drop syncing with Automake::Struct The module Automake::Struct has been removed in automake master branch (with yesterday's commit v1.11-2055-g74a7f49 "maint: drop 'Automake::Struct' module"): since Automake now requires Perl 5.6, that module has become obsolete, being basically just a backport of Perl 5.6's 'Class::Struct' to Perl 5.5. With this change, we follow suite in Autoconf, which syncs some of its internal modules with Automake. * lib/Autom4te/Struct.pm: Delete. * lib/Autom4te/Makefile.am (dist_perllib_DATA): Don't list it anymore. * cfg.mk: Don't sync it with the Automake repository anymore. * lib/Autom4te/Request.pm: Use 'Class::Struct' instead of 'Autom4te::Struct'. 2012-03-04 Paul Eggert doc: mention PATH bug with "ksh foo" * doc/autoconf.texi (Invoking the Shell): Mention ksh PATH bug. 2012-03-04 Stefano Lattarini tests: fix spurious failure due to Solaris XPG4 sh bug On Solaris 10, the /usr/xpg4/bin/sh shell seems unable to execute a shell script named 'script': $ touch script $ /bin/sh script; echo status: $? # As expected. status: 0 $ /usr/xpg4/bin/sh script; echo status: $? # Weirdness follows. /usr/xpg4/bin/sh: script: cannot execute status: 1 This was causing a spurious testsuite failure for users which have /usr/xpg4/bin in $PATH before /bin and /usr/bin. Fix that. * tests/m4sh.at (Configure re-execs self with CONFIG_SHELL): Rename the m4sh-produced script to 'script2', to avoid the just-described issue. 2012-03-04 Stefano Lattarini tests: fix spurious failure when CONFIG_SITE is set * tests/m4sh.at (Configure re-execs self with CONFIG_SHELL): Export $CONFIG_SITE to "/dev/null", to avoid spurious diffs in expected stdout/stderr. 2012-03-03 Paul Eggert fortran: clean up core files after AC_FC_CHECK_BOUNDS * lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (AC_FC_CHECK_BOUNDS): Clean up core files, too. Needed for Sun Fortran 95 8.2 2005/10/13 on Solaris 8. tests: port AS_TR_SH and AS_TR_CPP test to Solaris 8 wc * tests/m4sh.at (AS@&t@_TR_SH and AS@&t@_TR_CPP): Do not assume that "wc -l" outputs only digits; on Solaris 8 it also outputs blanks and POSIX allows this. tests: fix "#/bin/sh" typo * tests/m4sh.at (AS@&t@_EXECUTABLE): "#!/bin/sh", not "#/bin/sh". Typo reported by Tim Rice in: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf-patches/2012-03/msg00009.html tests: port AS_EXECUTABLE_P test to Solaris 8 /bin/sh * tests/m4sh.at (AS@&t@_EXECUTABLE): Treat any nonzero exit status as failure. This is needed for Solaris 8 /bin/sh, where executing a nonexecutable file causes the shell to say the file had exit status 1. 2012-03-03 Stefano Lattarini configure: don't infloop when re-executing with $CONFIG_SHELL It turns out our guard against infinite recursion wasn't good enough when shells without $LINENO support were involved, since the creation-and-sourcing of configure.lineno broke the guard's expectations. Reports by Tim Rice and Paul Eggert. * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_LINENO_PREPARE): Export '_as_can_reexec' to "no" before sourcing the just-created configure.lineno. 2012-03-01 Paul Eggert maint: spelling fixes 2012-03-01 Eric Blake maint: post-release administrivia * NEWS: Add header line for next release. * .prev-version: Record previous version. * cfg.mk (old_NEWS_hash): Auto-update. 2012-03-01 Eric Blake Release Version 2.68b. It's been more than a year since 2.68; time for a beta release to shake out any last minute bugs, before a release of 2.69 in the near future. * NEWS: Mention the release. * HACKING: Update some instructions. 2012-03-01 Eric Blake maint: resync files from upstream * GNUmakefile: Resync via 'make fetch'. * build-aux/config.guess: Likewise. * build-aux/config.sub: Likewise. * build-aux/texinfo.tex: Likewise. * build-aux/update-copyright: Likewise. * doc/standards.texi: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Channels.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Configure_ac.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/FileUtils.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Getopt.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/Struct.pm: Likewise. * lib/Autom4te/XFile.pm: Likewise. * maint.mk: Likewise. 2012-02-25 Eric Blake tests: add test for AS_EXECUTABLE_P Now that this is public, we should regression test it. * tests/m4sh.at (AS@&t@_EXECUTABLE): New test. 2012-02-24 Eric Blake m4sh: make AS_EXECUTABLE_P public In the process of making it public, factor it into a reusable function. This makes constructs like AC_CHECK_PROGRAM smaller, as well as making libtool's naughty use of $as_executable_p safer. * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_TEST_PREPARE): Add a shell function. (AS_EXECUTABLE_P): Forward to shell function. * doc/autoconf.texi (Common Shell Constructs): Document it. * NEWS: Mention this. 2012-02-24 Eric Blake m4sh: require that 'test -x' works 4.3BSD is no longer a reasonable portability target; and we are pretty sure that these days we can find at least one shell on any platform that supports 'test -x'. Drop a horribly unsafe use of eval as a result. :) Libtool still uses $as_executable_p without so much as calling either AS_TEST_X or AS_EXECUTABLE_P; even though the latter has existed, although undocumented, since at least 2.59; furthermore, libtool uses it in a context where filtering out directories would have been desirable. Shame on them. * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_TEST_X_WORKS): New probe. (AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_INIT): Use it in shell searching. (AS_TEST_X, AS_EXECUTABLE_P): Simplify. 2012-02-24 Eric Blake doc: mention more pitfalls of file mode tests 4.3BSD is museum-ware now, so we can assume that test -x exists; however, we still can't assume that it always does what we want. * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins) : Treat 'test -x' as mostly portable, but mention problems with root user, ACLs, and TOCTTOU races. 2012-02-16 Eric Blake docs: tweak 'rm -f' limitations Based on http://debbugs.gnu.org/10819 and http://austingroupbugs.net/view.php?id=542 * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Usual Tools) : More details on 'rm -f' without files. 2012-02-10 Paul Eggert maint: replace FSF snail-mail addresses with URLs * tests/erlang.at, tests/go.at, tests/statesave.m4: Replace FSF snail mail addresses with URLs, as per GNU coding standards, and for consistency with other tests. 2012-01-28 Jim Meyering maint: avoid "make syntax-check" failure * Makefile.am ($(srcdir)/INSTALL): Remove spurious space-before-TAB. 2012-01-23 Eric Blake tests: fix test regression due to additional output This test has been failing since commit 5285ea8c (sadly, since last July; thankfully, unreleased). * tests/m4sugar.at (m4@&t@_require: nested): Fix test. 2012-01-23 Eric Blake INSTALL: convert to '' quoting, drop blank line at end This is allowed by recent GNU Coding Standards changes, and mirrors recent gnulib changes: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2012-01/msg00267.html https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2012-01/msg00298.html I've confirmed that after these changes, the INSTALL generated and installed by autoconf matches the INSTALL.ISO in gnulib. * Makefile.am ($(srcdir)/INSTALL): Match gnulib INSTALL.ISO. 2012-01-23 Jim Meyering maint: convert .x-sc_* into exclude_file_name_regexp--sc_* exemptions Many of the .x-sc_* exemptions were no long necessary. Remove those files and instead, provide exemptions via variable definitions in cfg.mk to address the few remaining exceptions. * .x-sc_prohibit_atoi_atof: Remove file. * .x-sc_space_tab: Likewise. * .x-sc_sun_os_names: Likewise. * .x-sc_trailing_blank: Likewise. * .x-sc_two_space_separator_in_usage: Likewise. * .x-sc_useless_cpp_parens: Likewise. * cfg.mk: Add minimal exemptions. * cfg.mk: Add minimal exemptions. * doc/standards.texi (Standard C): Address the sole useless-cpp-parens violation in this file: -#if defined (__STDC__) || defined (WINDOWSNT) +#if defined __STDC__ || defined WINDOWSNT With that, the only remaining offender is config.guess, whose name is now listed in cfg.mk. Suggested by Eric Blake. 2012-01-23 Paul Eggert doc: work around mingw-w64 alloca problem with example * doc/autoconf.texi (Particular Functions): In example code for alloca, do not re-#define alloca. This works around a mingw-w64 problem reported by Vincent Torri in . 2012-01-21 Jim Meyering maint: fix or disable failing syntax-check rules * cfg.mk (local-checks-to-skip): List failing tests, so we skip them, for now. (old_NEWS_hash): Update. * doc/autoconf.texi: Per suggestion from Eric Blake, obfuscate the first word of "Filesystem Hierarchy Standard" as File@/system so it continues to render as one word, yet doesn't trigger the syntax-check prohibition. maint: also sync maint.mk and useless-if-before-free from gnulib * cfg.mk (gnulib-update): Add them to the list. * maint.mk: Update from gnulib. * build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog: Likewise. * build-aux/useless-if-before-free: New file, from gnulib. * doc/gnu-oids.texi: Update. maint.mk: update from gnulib * maint.mk: Update. maint: placate syntax-check rules: exempt some false positives * cfg.mk: Exempt maint.mk from the "undesirable word seq" check. Exempt maint.mk and autoconf.texi from the test_minus_ao check. maint: tweak to avoid triggering space-tab-prohibiting syntax-check * tests/m4sh.at (nargs): Use TAB-SP, not SP-TAB in abusive file name, to avoid triggering the space-tab-prohibiting syntax-check. maint: remove empty lines at EOF * man/autoconf.x: Remove empty line at EOF. * man/autoheader.x: Likewise. * man/autoscan.x: Likewise. * man/autoupdate.x: Likewise. * man/ifnames.x: Likewise. * tests/compile.at: Likewise. * doc/fdl.texi: Likewise. doc: fix grammar/doubled-word errors * doc/autoconf.texi: Remove/fix doubled-word errors. Also, s/can not/cannot/. * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4: Reword "if IF" comment to avoid triggering the doubled-word warning. 2012-01-21 Stefano Lattarini maint: sync files from gnulib * GNUmakefile: Sync from gnulib. * build-aux/announce-gen: Likewise. * build-aux/config.guess: Likewise. * build-aux/config.sub: Likewise. * build-aux/git-version-gen: Likewise. * build-aux/gnupload: Likewise. * build-aux/move-if-change: Likewise. * build-aux/texinfo.tex: Likewise. * build-aux/update-copyright: Likewise. * build-aux/vc-list-files: Likewise. * doc/gendocs_template: Likewise. * doc/standards.texi: Likewise. * m4/autobuild.m4: Likewise. 2012-01-21 Stefano Lattarini maint: make position of gnulib checkout configurable Some gnulib-related tools (most prominently, the gnulib-provided 'bootstrap' script) allow the user to define the position of his gnulib's repository checkout through the use of the 'GNULIB_SRCDIR' environment variable. We should do the same, for consistency and to easily support slightly unusual layouts in developers' source trees. * cfg.mk (gnulib_dir): Define to "$GNULIB_SRCDIR" if that's set, and to default value of "'$(abs_srcdir)'/../gnulib" otherwise. Update comments. 2012-01-20 Stefano Lattarini getopt: sync from Automake repository * lib/Autom4te/Getopt.am: The master copy of this file has been moved to the Automake repository (see Automake commit 'v1.11-662-g52246cc' 2012-01-18, "cmdline parsing: move into a dedicated perl module"). So we now we sync it from there, by listing it ... * cfg.mk (autom4te_files): ... in this variable. 2012-01-20 Stefano Lattarini build: fix automake error due to missing ChangeLog Apparently, Automake does not accept the '$(srcdir)/ChangeLog' target in Makefile.am as a declaration that ChangeLog is automatically generated (and thus does not need to exist at automake time). One has to use a *literal* 'ChangeLog' target. Problem introduced in commit v2.68-118-g6ed5195 of 2012-01-17, "maint: generate ChangeLog from git log". * Makefile.ma ($(srcdir)/ChangeLog): Renamed ... (ChangeLog): ... to this. 2012-01-17 Stefano Lattarini getopt: new Autom4te::Getopt module * lib/Autom4te/General.pm (getopt): Move the guts of its implementation ... * lib/Autom4te/Getopt.pm (parse_options): .. into this function in the new Autom4te::Getopt module. This will make it simpler for the implementation to be shared with other projects (right now, Automake). * lib/Automake/Makefile.am (dist_perllib_DATA): Add the new module. 2012-01-17 Jim Meyering tests: avoid spurious failure for each gnu-fortran-using test The tests compare pre- and post-run lists of envvars, which must be the same, modulo a list of known, filtered-out exceptions. However, when running fortran-checking tests with GNU fortran, each would fail due to the post-run addition of the GFC symbol added in v2.68-97-gbd962ac. * tests/local.at (AT_CHECK_ENV): Add GFC to the list of symbols that we ignore in pre-/post-run environment diffs. 2012-01-17 Stefano Lattarini maint: generate ChangeLog from git log Following the practice set by various other GNU projects, we start to automatically generate the ChangeLog file from the git commit messages. This will avoid duplication (as the ChangeLog entries were always inserted both in the git commit message and in the version-controlled ChangeLog file), and potential problems with spurious merge conflicts (which, although greatly mitigated by Bruno Haible's `git-merge-changelog' helper program, have never been completely solved). * ChangeLog: Moved ... * ChangeLog.3: ... to this. * build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog: New script, synced from gnulib. * cfg.mk (gnulib-update): Also sync gitlog-to-changelog. * Makefile.am (gen-ChangeLog): New .PHONY rule, generate the ChangeLog for distribution. (dist-hook): Depend on it. ($(srcdir)/ChangeLog): New dummy rule, to pacify automake "gnu" strictness. Creates a dummy ChangeLog, that will be overridden by the proper one at distribution time. (gen_start_date): New variable, the date starting from which the git log entries are to be copied in the generated ChangeLog. (EXTRA_DIST): Add ChangeLog.3 and gitlog-to-changelog. * configure.ac (AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR): Use 'lib/autoconf/autoconf.m4' instead of 'ChangeLog' as the sentinel file. * .gitignore: Add ChangeLog. 2012-01-15 Stefano Lattarini cosmetics: fix some typos in ChangeLog