Autoconf 2.53c

[Akim Demaille]

Autoconf 2.54 is about to be released.  This version includes many
bugs fixes, and several new features, listed below.  Special attention
was paid to Automake 1.7-Autoconf 2.54 interaction.

        Akim, Alexandres, Jim, Paul, and Tom


You may download Autoconf 2.53c immediately from:

  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/autoconf-2.53c.tar.gz   1013KB
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/autoconf-2.53c.tar.bz2  767KB
  ftp://sources.redhat.com/pub/automake/autoconf-2.53b-2.53c.xdelta   26KB

And in the near future, from:

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.53c.tar.gz   1013KB
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.53c.tar.bz2  767KB
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.53b-2.53c.xdelta   26KB

Here are the MD5 and SHA1 signatures for the compressed tar files:

5990708332ea2f7804b5e500b6db80ec  autoconf-2.53c.tar.gz
1818ebae944fd04dd9b1bbea243b6ee7  autoconf-2.53c.tar.bz2
b8b3494d6c254c5a4f66108cba9b865409466ce0  autoconf-2.53c.tar.gz
33f8ac2385633b3cddd3f6f8b9e249aa8caedd47  autoconf-2.53c.tar.bz2

NEWS:

** Executables

- autoreconf no longer changes the version of the gettext/po/intl
  support files. It now adds the files the correspond to the
  AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared in configure.ac.

  Warning: It now relies on the 'autopoint' program, which is part
  of GNU gettext 0.11.4 and newer.

  Please note that you need to have a GNU gettext version that
  corresponds at least to the AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION declared
  in configure.ac. You can upgrade to newer GNU gettext versions,
  though, without needing to change configure.ac.

- The -I DIR or --include=DIR option now appends DIR to the include path
  instead of prepending; this is for consistency with other GNU tools.
  The new -B DIR or --prepend-include=DIR option has the old behavior.

** Macros

- AC_OUTPUT
  Now handles all the gory details about LIBOBJS and LTLIBOBJS.
  Please, remove lines such as

        # This is necessary so that .o files in LIBOBJS are also
        # built via the ANSI2KNR-filtering rules.
        LIBOBJS=`echo $LIBOBJS|sed 's/\.o /\$U.o /g;s/\.o$/\$U.o/'`

  and read the `AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS' section.  Do not define U in
  your Makefiles either.

- AC_CONFIG_LINKS now makes copies if it can't make links.

- AC_FUNC_FNMATCH now tests only for POSIX compatibility, reverting to
  Autoconf 2.13 behavior.  The new macro AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU also
  tests for GNU extensions to fnmatch, and replaces fnmatch if needed.

- AC_FUNC_SETVBUF_REVERSED no longer fails when cross-compiling.

- AC_PROG_CC_STDC is integrated into AC_PROG_CC.

- AC_PROG_F77 default search no longer includes cf77 and cfg77.

- New macros

  AC_C_BACKSLASH_A, AC_CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR, AC_GNU_SOURCE,
  AC_PROG_EGREP, AC_PROG_FGREP, AC_REPLACE_FNMATCH,
  AC_FUNC_FNMATCH_GNU, AC_FUNC_REALLOC, AC_TYPE_MBSTATE_T.

- AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
  looks for getloadavg.c in the CONFIG_LIBOBJ_DIR.

- AC_FUNC_MALLOC
   Now defines HAVE_MALLOC to 0 if `malloc' does not work, and asks
   for an AC_LIBOBJ replacement.

** Bug fixes

- Spurious complaints from `m4_bmatch' about invalid regular
  expressions are suppressed.

- Empty top_builddirs are properly handled.

- AC_CHECK_MEMBER works correctly when the member is an aggregate.

- AC_PATH_PROG
  Now colon in the optional path arguments are properly handled.

** Improved portability

- Both Autoconf the package, and the scripts it produces, should run
  more reliably with Zsh.  Bear in mind it is the default Bourne shell
  on Darwin.

- Autoconf and the scripts it produces no longer assume the existence of
  the obsolescent commands egrep and fgrep.

** Documentation

- Limitations of Make
  More of them.

- GNATS
  The GNATS base has moved to
  http://bugs.gnu.org/cgi-bin/gnatsweb.pl?database=autoconf

** Misc.

- config.log
  Now contains the list of ouput variables and files (AC_SUBST,
  AC_SUBST_FILES).

ChangeLog entries:

**********************************************************************
ChangeLog       3 Sep 2002 06:15:44 -0000       1.1991
**********************************************************************
2002-09-03  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        Version 2.53c.

2002-09-02  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autom4te.in (parse_args): Don't honor AUTOM4TE_PATH and
        SITE_MACRO_DIR.
        * configure.ac: Disable SITE_MACRO_DIR.

2002-09-02  Jim Meyering  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (AC_SYS_POSIX_TERMIOS): Reflect renaming: s/am/ac/,
        i.e., change am_cv_sys_posix_termios to ac_cv_sys_posix_termios.
        Also, tweak grammar: s/make sure to/be sure to/.

2002-09-02  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Builtins): Explain why logical
        directory names are generally preferable to physical names.

2002-09-02  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/Autom4te/General.pm (&update_file): s/die/error/.
        Reported by Raja R. Harinath.
        * bin/autoheader.in, bin/autoreconf.in, bin/autoscan.in,
        * bin/autoupdate.in: Use error instead of die.

2002-09-01  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * tests/mktests.sh (ac_exclude_egrep, au_exclude_egrep): Use
        ordinary shell concatenation rather than echo+tr+sed command that
        runs afoul of a long-line-related sed bug in Solaris 8.

        * bin/autoheader.in (parse_args): --warning -> --warnings.

        * bin/autoconf.as: Work even if "ls" outputs "FOO not found" to
        stdout, as traditional "ls" does.
        * lib/autoconf/lang.m4 (_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_DEFAULT,
        _AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_O): Likewise.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Usual Tools): Add "ls".

        * bin/autoconf.as: Add --prepend-include option.  This patch was
        applied to bin/autoconf.in in the 2002-07-17 patch by Mark D. Roth,
        but bin/autoconf.in is generated automatically from bin/autoconf.as.

        * bin/autoconf.in, configure: Regenerate.

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables): Mention
        ENV, MAIL, MAILPATH, PS1, PS2, PS4.  Index PWD.

        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (AS_SHELL_SANITIZE): Unset ENV, MAIL,
        MAILPATH and set PS1, PS2, PS4 to default values, to work
        around bug in pre-3.0 UWIN ksh reported by Bruce Lilly.
        For LC_ALL etc, first try to set to "C" as POSIX requires and as
        the Autoconf documentation specifies; fall back to "unset" only if
        this fails.  Use a shell for-loop for this rather than an m4 loop,
        to shorten the output script.

2002-08-30  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Special Shell Variables): Mention POSIX
        1003.1-2001's requirements for CDPATH.  Give a simpler workaround
        for the CDPATH problem.  Document PWD.
        (Limitations of Builtins): Document the problem that "cd $foo" and
        "ls $foo" may refer to different directories in shells conforming
        to POSIX 1003.1-2001.  Use PS1 rather than CDPATH for "unset"
        example, since the old example is now out of date.

        * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (_AC_INIT_SRCDIR): Reject FOO if "cd
        FOO" and "ls FOO" talk about different directories; this catches
        problems when POSIX 1003.1-2001 "cd" fails due to symlink
        spaghetti.

        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (AS_SHELL_SANITIZE): Use AS_UNSET instead
        of rolling our own unset.
        (_AS_PREPARE): $as_unset CDPATH instead of AS_UNSETting it, since
        in practice we needn't worry about CDPATH if unset doesn't work.

        * Makefile.in, aclocal.m4, bin/Makefile.in,
        config/Makefile.in, doc/Makefile.in, lib/Makefile.in,
        lib/Autom4te/Makefile.in, lib/autoconf/Makefile.in,
        lib/autoscan/Makefile.in, lib/autotest/Makefile.in,
        lib/emacs/Makefile.in, lib/m4sugar/Makefile.in, man/Makefile.in,
        tests/Makefile.in: Regenerate with Automake 1.6.3.

        * config/config.guess, config/config.sub, config/mkinstalldirs:
        Update.

        * configure: Regenerate with self.

2002-08-30  Kevin Ryde  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Usual Tools): Notes on "cc"
        default output.

2002-08-29  Rainer Orth  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autom4te.in (Request::load): Correctly test for "do" read
        failure.

2002-08-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/Autom4te/General.pm (&xqx): New.
        (&xsystem): Use WIFEXITED and WEXITSTATUS instead of decoding $? by
        hand, which is not portable.
        (&error): New.
        * bin/autom4te.in: Use them.
        Use &error instead of die.
        * tests/m4sugar.at (m4_warn, m4_require: circular dependencies):
        Adjust.

2002-08-17  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (AC_PROG_F77): Remove fc from the
        default list of compilers to try, since it was long ago superseded
        by the ksh fc builtin.  Suggested by Steven G. Johnson.

2002-07-31  Alexandre Duret-Lutz  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Invoking autom4te): End the option table,
        fixing a bug introduced by the previous patch.
        (Limitations of Make): Add a 'target lookup' subentry in the
        'VPATH' entry.  Rewrite all `make' occurences as address@hidden'.

2002-07-29  Mark D. Roth  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autom4te.in: Remove --include-envvar and --site-macro-subdir
        options and use $AUTOM4TE_PATH.
        * doc/autoconf.texi: Remove documentation of autom4te
        --include-envvar and --site-macro-subdir options and document
        use of $AUTOM4TE_PATH.
        * lib/autom4te.in: Remove --include-envvar and --site-macro-subdir
        arguments from each language section.

2002-07-29  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * doc/install.texi: Include copyright symbol in copyright notice.

        * Makefile.am (MAKEINFO): Remove; it's a user-specified macro.
        Replace with:
        (AM_MAKEINFOFLAGS): New macro.
        * doc/Makefile.am (MAKEINFO, AM_MAKEINFOFLAGS): Likewise.
        * Makefile.am (INSTALL): Use the new macros.
        Use -o rather than --output, since "missing" does not grok --output.

2002-07-25  Alexandre Duret-Lutz  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Make): Escaped newlines in
        comments do not always work. Never trust the exit status of
        `make -k'.

2002-07-24  Kevin Ryde  <address@hidden>

        * autoconf.texi (Limitations of Make, Making testsuite Scripts):
        Untabify, since tabs are not enjoyed by texi2dvi and makeinfo.

2002-07-23  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_PATH_SEPARATOR_PREPARE):
        Use PATH="/nonexistent;.", not PATH=".;.", as FreeBSD ksh2002
        apparently treats PATH="nonexistent" as if it contained ".".
        Bug reported by Stefan `Sec' Zehl.

2002-07-22  Alexandre Duret-Lutz  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Make): Mention the special
        handling of the obj/ directory by BSD make.

2002-07-20  Kevin Ryde  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Make): Add HP-UX IA-64 trailing
        backslashes.

2002-07-19  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Function Portability): `exit'.
        (Programming in M4sh): Ethymology of M4sh.

2002-07-19  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (AC_LIBOBJ vs LIBOBJS): More about $U.