Re: [PATCH] update automake version to 1.11.6

[Mike Frysinger <vapier@gentoo.org>]

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On 19 Mar 2015 15:59, Doug Evans wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 5:06 AM, Joel Brobecker wrote:
> >> Debian stable (wheezy) and newer only have 1.11.6.
> >> Ubuntu Trusty and newer only have 1.11.6.
> >> Gentoo dropped <=1.11.5 2 years ago.
> >> Fedora R17 was the last one to offer 1.11.x (it was 1.11.6).
> >> Centos 7 doesn't offer any 1.11.x version.
> >> OpenSUSE 12.2 was the last one to offer 1.11.x.
> >> Arch Linux dropped 1.11.x 3 years ago.
> >> Mageia 2 was the last one to offer 1.11.x.
> >>
> >> So anyone who readily has access to automake 1.11.[0-5] is using a two
> >> year old distro that is no longer supported.  Lets use 1.11.6 as it's
> >> the only 1.11.x version that is easily available.
> >>
> >> 2015-03-14  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
> >>
> >>       * README-maintainer-mode: Update automake to 1.11.6.
> >
> > FWIW, I tend to avoid using the auto-tools already installed, because
> > I don't know what patches they might contain. Those patches can result
> > in small differences which inexplicably show up when you regenerate
> > some files after making some modifications. That's why I rebuilt
> > them all from source, and use them when regenerating files.
> >
> > All in all, I'm not against switching to 1.11.6 but we should then
> > regenerate all affected files now, and I would prefer it if that was
> > done using an unmodified release rather than one that might have been
> > modified by the distro.
> 
> +1 on avoiding distro releases.

if we follow this logic, why aren't autotools part of the repo, either directly 
(like readline) or indirectly (git submodules) ?  requiring every developer to 
independently correctly download&build&install a custom version of autotools in 
their system is, frankly, unreasonable.

in Gentoo i've made it dirt simple for people -- older versions of autoconf are 
available to emerge in parallel and you can select via `autoconf-2.64` or by 
exporting WANT_AUTOCONF=2.64.  but i don't think making Gentoo a requirement 
would be approved :D.
-mike

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