Re: Renaming proposal

[Peter Simons]

Hi Reuben,

 > I'm happy to do some mass renaming [...]: I shall change all "author
 > initials" prefixes to "ax_", change "ac_" to "ax_", and add "ax_" to
 > any macro that doesn't currently have an "ac_", "ax_", or "author
 > initials" prefix.

thank you very much for that offer. We really ought to clean up that zoo
of prefixes, not least of all because it sets a bad example for Autoconf
novices. It's about time that all those inconsistencies are addressed.


 > I would expect to commit this one prefix at a time, i.e. one per
 > author, one for ac_ and one for "no prefix", to minimise the effect
 > of errors, and to notify the list after the first commit (to allow
 > review) and then again after the last.

Yes, that sounds like a sensible approach; I am all for it. If possible,
could you please keep the original files in the repository but add a
note at the top that points users to the new name? For example:

  # ===========================================================================
  #         http://www.nongnu.org/autoconf-archive/type_socklen_t.html
  # ===========================================================================
  #
  # OBSOLETE MACRO
  #
  #   Renamed to AX_TYPE_SOCKLEN_T.
  #
  # SYNOPSIS
  [...]

We can delete the old files after a short grace period, of course, but
keeping them around for a little while eases the transition for our
users. Also, the HTML renderer will recognize those macros as obsolete
and generate appropriate stub pages that forward to the new location.

I realize that Autoconf offers the macros AU_DEFUN and AU_ALIAS to mark
macros as obsolete, too, but unfortunately these constructs don't
generate any warnings unless autoconf is run with -Wobsolete, something
most people won't do, so they are not particularly useful, IMHO.

Anyway, if you'd like to get started working on this subject, please do!

Take care,
Peter