Re: [PATCH 0/2] use AM_TESTS_ENVIRONMENT Automake variable

[Pádraig Brady]

On 04/07/16 22:09, Mathieu Lirzin wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Pádraig Brady <address@hidden> writes:
> 
>> On 02/07/16 20:50, Mathieu Lirzin wrote:
>>> ping
>>>
>>> Mathieu Lirzin <address@hidden> writes:
>>>
>>>> Hello,
>>>>
>>>> Since 2011 Automake TESTS_ENVIRONMENT variable is reserved for the
>>>> user unless the “older (and discouraged) serial test harness” is used.
>>>> See:
>>>>
>>>>   
>>>> https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#index-AM_005fTESTS_005fENVIRONMENT
>>>>
>>>> The first patch makes use of the new AM_TESTS_ENVIRONMENT
>>>> developer-reserved variable, and the second one adds a ‘syntax-check’
>>>> to ensure no rule to preach the good news!  ;)
>>>>
>>>> Thanks,
>>
>> The patch looks correct but what about backwards compat?
>> The DEPENDENCIES files lists automake 1.9.6 (2005) as a dependency.
>>
>> Should we increase that? Maybe.
>> Should we increase that for this? Probably not.
> 
> Automake is a dependency that only matters to developpers.  Since Debian
> stable has a more recent version and RHEL 7 has one too (I guess),
> requiring Automake 1.12 (2012) seems reasonable to me.  WDYT?

Yes maybe.
I see coreutils bumped the requirement to 1.11.2 for the same reason:
http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=commitdiff;h=v8.19-39-g8381e35
but then reverted due to 1.12 being necessary:
http://git.sv.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=coreutils.git;a=commitdiff;h=v8.19-131-gcb5ff9d
4 years later it might be time to bump that requirement more widely in gnulib