Re: [PATCH] {master} compat: restore AM_PROG_MKDIR, again

[Stefano Lattarini]

On 01/14/2013 10:50 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> OK, this is getting ridiculous, but we cannot remove this macro yet
> (and, yes, the fault for this mess lies entirely on me; let's not
> dwell on that, thank you very much).
> 
> Gettext (so far the greatest "offender" in the use of AM_PROG_MKDIR), in
> its latest release 0.18.2, has removed all the uses of that macro still
> present in its code base.  So I thought we could finally and safely
> remove it.  Wrong.  If a package's 'configure.ac' contains a call like:
> 
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.18])
> 
> then the 'autopoint' script will bring the data files from the Gettext
> release *1.18* into the package's tree -- yes, even even if the developer
> has installed *and is using* Gettext 1.18.2!  Now, these data files
> comprise m4 files (that will be seen by subsequent aclocal and autoconf
> calls), and of course, the pre-0.18.2 version of some of these files
> still contains occurrences of AM_PROG_MKDIR_P -- so Automake 1.13 errors
> out, and we lose.  This has already happened in practice:
> 
>   <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-grep/2013-01/msg00003.html>
> 
> Moreover, while we might see it as not unreasonable to ask a developer
> using Automake 1.13 to also update Gettext 1.18.2, that would not
> be enough; in order for gettext to use the correct data files, our
> developer would have to update his configure.ac to read:
> 
>    AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.18.2])
> 
> thus requiring *all* of his co-developers to install Gettext 1.18.2,
> even if they are still using, say, Automake 1.12.6.  Bad.
> 
> So we re-instate this macro as a simple alias for AC_PROG_MKDIR (plus
> a non-fatal runtime warning in the 'obsolete' category), and drop any
> plan to remove it (see how much good those plans have done us so far).
> 
> Note that NEWS is not yet adjusted, since we'll have to adjust it in
> maint before (to minimize spurious merge conflicts).
> 
> * doc/automake.texi: Update.
> * PLANS/obsolete-removed/am-prog-mkdir-p.txt: Likewise.
> * t/gettext-macros.sh: Adjust.
> * t/am-prog-mkdir-p.sh: New test.
> * t/mkdir_p.sh: Remove, folded into the new one.
> * t/am-prog-mkdir-p-no-more: Remove as superseded.
> * t/list-of-tests.mk: Adjust.
> * t/obsolete-err.m4: Re-instate AM_PROG_MKDIR_P as a working
> alias for AC_PROG_MKDIR_P (albeit giving runtime warnings, and
> calling AC_SUBST on 'mkdir_p' too).
> * m4/init.m4 (AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE): No longer call AC_SUBST for
> 'mkdir_p', as that is once again AM_PROG_MKDIR_P's business.
> 
Pushed now.

Regards,
  Stefano