Re: [RFC] Update to current automake/autoconf/libtool versions.

Alan Modra
2002-12-06T00:26:35Z

On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 03:45:52PM -0800, Mike Stump wrote:
> On Thursday, December 5, 2002, at 03:19 PM, Alan Modra wrote:
> >On Thu, Dec 05, 2002 at 02:55:38PM -0800, Ian Lance Taylor wrote:
> >>Perhaps --enable-maintainer-mode could be extended to specify a PATH
> >>to use to find the tools.
> >
> >It would need to be on a per-directory basis. Something like
> >
> >--enable-maintainer-mode=\
> >"gdb:/usr/local/000227/bin,libstdc++-v3:/usr/local/oldauto/bin,*:yes"
>
> This is beyond gross. :-(

Sniff. I'm sure I could make it a lot more gross. :)

> Better to require
>
> autoconf-2.14
> autoconf
>
> and then have each directory know which one to use, and require the
> advanced user to have these.
>
> OAUTOCONF = autoconf-2.14
> AUTOCONF = autoconf
>
> and then use $(AUTOCONF) for new uses, and $(OAUTOCONF) for old uses.
>
> Also, we need a version check on the old autoconf to be sure that it
> isn't too new.

The trouble with this idea is that older autoconf and automake aren't
installed as $tool-$version, and last I checked, current autoconf
doesn't install with a version suffix. Old tools really need to be
installed with a different --prefix. Hmm, I suppose a few symbolic
links would cure that problem. What happens if you need three three
or four different versions of autoconf?

--
Alan Modra
IBM OzLabs - Linux Technology Centre