Re: [PATCH] {maint} Document in detail some limitations of aclocal.

[Stefano Lattarini]

[dropping address@hidden

On Thursday 04 November 2010, Nick Bowler wrote:
> On 2010-11-04 20:47 +0100, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> > On Thursday 28 October 2010, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> > > On Wednesday 27 October 2010, Nick Bowler wrote:
> > > > On 2010-10-23 15:23 +0200, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> > > > > So I think your first problem is "just" an aclocal limitation we 
> > > > > should
> > > > > resign to live with.  But I also think that such a limitation should 
> > > > > be
> > > > > documented explicitly, since it's by no means obvious.
> > > > 
> > > > It's especially non-obvious because the other autotools handle this just
> > > > fine.
> > > Agreed.
> > I've gone ahead and documented this non-obvious limitation, and another
> > similar one regarding AC_DEFUN.  See the attached patch.
> > 
> > Ralf, ok to apply to maint?
> > 
> > Nick, the attached patch also adds your name and e-mail address to the
> > automake THANKS file; do you have any problem with that?
> 
> No problem.
Good.
> I have a couple comments, however:
Thanks, reviews are always welcome!

> > -*-*-*-
> > 
> > Document in detail some limitations of aclocal.
> [...]
> > address@hidden
> > +## Let's see an @command{aclocal} limitation w.r.t.@: scanning
> > +## of macro definitons.
> > +$ @kbd{cat m4/foo.m4}
> > +# Indirection used here, to avoid triggering the bug described
> > +# above.
> > +AC_DEFUN([MY_DEFUN], [m4_apply([AC_DEFUN], [$1], [$2])])
> 
> This is insufficiently quoted, it should be:
>                         [m4_apply([AC_DEFUN], [[$1], [$2]])]
I'm not an m4 quoting guru, but I think that one single level of quotes
is sufficient to avoid *spurious* expansions.  Do you have any reason or
example showing that two levels of quotes are indeed needed?
 
> [...]
> > +These limitations might be lifted in a future version of
> > address@hidden, but then again, they might not, so you
> > +should be preperated to live with them.
>              ^^^^^^^^^^
>              prepared
Fixed, thanks.

> [...]
> > +++ b/tests/aclocal-limit-defun.test
> [...]
> > +cat > m4/foo.m4 <<'END'
> > +AC_DEFUN([MY_DEFUN], [m4_apply([AC_DEFUN], [$1], [$2])])
> 
> Same quoting issue as above.
Same answer and question as above :-)

Thanks for the review,
  Stefano