autoconf-2.50c released

[Akim Demaille]

This is our release candidate but for the remaining F77 issues.
Please, test it hard, make it suffer.

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.50c.tar.gz   (831k        
autoconf-2.50c.tar.gz)

Here is the MD5 signature for the .tar.gz file

ffefa705abf8d255ebb9b6e756f31957  autoconf-2.50c.tar.gz

NEWS:
* Major changes in Autoconf 2.50c                       -*- outline -*-
** Documentation
- AC_ARG_VAR
- Quadrigraphs
  This feature was present in autoconf 2.50 but was not documented.
  For example, `@<:@' is translated to `[' just before output.  This
  is useful when writing strings that contain unbalanced quotes, or
  other hard-to-quote constructs.
- m4_pattern_forbid, m4_pattern_allow
- Tips for upgrading from 2.13.
- Using autoscan to maintain a configure.ac.

** Default includes
- Now include stdint.h.
- sys/types.h and sys/stat.h are guarded.
- strings.h is included if available, and not conflicting with string.h.

** Bug fixes
- The test suite is more robust and presents less false failures.
- Invocation of GNU M4 now robust to POSIXLY_CORRECT.
- configure accepts --prefix='' again.
- AC_CHECK_LIB works properly when its first argument is not a
  literal.
- HAVE_INTTYPES_H is defined only if not conflicting with sys/types.h.
- build_, host_, and target_alias are AC_SUBST as in 2.13.
- AC_ARG_VAR properly propagates precious variables inherited from the
  environment to ./config.status.
- Using --program-suffix/--program-prefix is portable.
- Failures to detect the default compiler's output extension are less
  likely.
- `config.status foo' works properly when `foo' depends on variables
  set in an AC_CONFIG_THING INIT-CMD.
- autoheader is more robust to broken input.
- Fixed Fortran name-mangling and link tests on a number of systems,
  e.g. NetBSD; see AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, below.

** Generic macros
- AC_CHECK_HEADER and AC_CHECK_HEADERS support a fourth argument to
  specify pre-includes.
- AC_ARG_VAR refuses to run configure when precious variables have
  changed.
- Versions of compilers are dumped in the logs.

** Specific Macros
- AC_PATH_XTRA only adds -ldnet to $LIBS if it's needed to link.
- AC_FUNC_WAIT3 and AC_SYS_RESTARTABLE_SYSCALLS are obsoleted.
- AM_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AM_FUNC_FNMATCH, AM_FUNC_MKTIME,
  AM_FUNC_OBSTACK, and AM_FUNC_STRTOD are now activated.
  Be sure to read `Upgrading from Version 2.13' to understand why
  running `autoupdate' is needed.
- AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN, AC_F77_MAIN: new macros to detect whether
  a main-like routine is required/possible when linking C/C++ with
  Fortran.  Users of e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS should be aware of these.

ChangeLog entries:

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        Version 2.50c.
        * Makefile.maint (alpha): Typo.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Limitations of Make): Macro names and underscore.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * config/config.guess, config/config.sub, config/texinfo.tex
        * doc/standards.texi, doc/make-stds.texi: Update.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * Makefile.maint (cvs-check, cvs-tag-check, cvs-diff-check): New.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * Makefile.maint (maintainer-check): Rename as...
        (maintainer-distcheck): this.
        (changelog-check, static-check): New.
        Use them.

2001-07-14  Kevin Ryde  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (C++ Compilers Characteristics): Last resort
        for CXX is g++, not gcc.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Files): New subsection.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (C Compiler, Fortran 77 Compiler): Be subsections
        of...
        (Generic Compiler Characteristics): this.
        (C++ Compiler): New subsection.

2001-07-14  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * autoscan.in: Use IO::File.
        Adjust all the routines to use it.
        ($log): New file (autoscan.log).
        (output): Dump detailed logs into $log, and a shortened version to
        stderr.
        (&scan_makefile): Refine the regexp catching tokens in the code.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (autoscan Invocation): Document `autoscan.log'
        and the `configure.ac' checking feature.

2001-07-12  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        For some AWK, such as on HPUX 11, `xfoo' does not match `foo|^bar'.
        Reported by Michael Elizabeth Chastain.

        * autoconf.in: Refuse such AWK.
        * configure.in: Likewise.
        * Makefile.am (acversion.m4): Do not use move-if-change this file
        has dependencies.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (Fortran 77 Compiler): Some typos.

2001-07-10  Jens Petersen  <address@hidden>

        * autoscan.in (&scan_makefile): Improve programs regexp to parse
        things like "g++", "file.c" and "some-conf" as tokens.
        (&scan_file): Match C++ files extensions.
        If the filename extension is C++ then ask for c++.

2001-07-05  Steven G. Johnson  <address@hidden>

        * aclang.m4 (AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN): Use AC_TRY_LINK, not
        AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC, to check whether defining a dummy
        main-like routine is needed for linking with F77 libs.

2001-07-05  Pavel Roskin  <address@hidden>

        * aclocal.m4 (_AC_PROG_CXX_EXIT_DECLARATION): Remove conftest*
        after using break.
        (_AC_PROG_F77_V_OUTPUT): Remove conftest*, not conftest.* after
        linking.

2001-07-05  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * Makefile.am (move_if_change): New.  Use it instead of `mv'.
        (acversion.m4): Name it `$(srcdir)/acversion.m4' to ease broken
        Makes' lives.
        Reported by Nicolas Joly.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acgeneral.m4 (_AC_RUN_IFELSE): Remove conftest.o when cleaning
        up.
        * acfunctions.m4 (AC_FUNC_WAIT3): Use `break' to silent some
        warnings from compilers.
        * aclang.m4 (_AC_LANG_COMPILER_GNU): Log the version information
        for all the compilers, not only GNU.  Hence move from here...
        (AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX, AC_PROG_F77): to here.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acfunctions.m4 (AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R)
        (AC_FUNC_STRCOLL, AC_FUNC_WAIT3): Use AC_RUN_IFELSE and
        AC_COMPILE_IFELSE.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acgeneral.m4 (_AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT_REQUIREMENTS): Actually apply
        the ``strings.h'' change claimed below.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * aclang.m4 (_AC_LANG_COMPILER_GNU): s/-dumpspecs/-v/.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acgeneral.m4 (_AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT_REQUIREMENTS): Include
        strings.h if usable with string.h.
        Suggested by Paul Eggert.

2001-07-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * autoscan.in (&scan_file): Skip FILE if there is FILE.in.
        From Jens Petersen.

2001-07-03  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acgeneral.m4 (_AC_OUTPUT_CONFIG_STATUS): Specify CONFIG_FILES
        etc. in the log.

2001-07-03  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * acheaders.m4 (AC_CHECK_HEADER): When INCLUDES are set, use the
        compiler, not the preprocessor.
        * acgeneral.m4 (_AC_INCLUDES_DEFAULT_REQUIREMENTS): No longer use
        dedicated code to check for inttypes.h, as AC_CHECK_HEADERS does
        the right thing.
        * Makefile.am (.m4.m4f): Emphasize M4 error messages and fail
        earlier if there are.

2001-07-03  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * autoscan.in ($initfile): Remove.
        (&find_file): Rename as...
        (&scan_file): this.
        Immediately scan the current file, instead of gathering them, and
        later having them handled by &scan_files.
        (&scan_files): Merely invoke Find::File.
        Adjust.

2001-07-02  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * autoscan.in: Formatting changes, matching the invocation order.
        (File::Find): Use it instead of Perl 4's `find.pl'.
        (&wanted): Rename as...
        (&find_file): this.

2001-07-01  Pavel Roskin  <address@hidden>

        * aclang.m4 (AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN): Remove conftest* after using
        break in the argument to AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC.
        (AC_F77_MAIN): Remove conftest* after using break in the
        argument to AC_TRY_LINK.

2001-07-01  Steven G. Johnson  <address@hidden>

        Add alternate 'main' routine detection for linking C/C++ with Fortran,
        fixing link failures for e.g. AC_F77_WRAPPERS on NetBSD.

        * aclang.m4 (AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN): New macro to detect whether a
        dummy alternate main is required even if the user provides her own
        'main'.
        (AC_F77_MAIN): New macro to detect whether it is possible to
        provide an alternate 'main' function name, using the 'main' from
        the Fortran libraries.
        (AC_LANG_PROGRAM(C)): Use F77_DUMMY_MAIN, if it is defined, so that
        cross-language link tests can be performed successfully.
        (_AC_F77_NAME_MANGLING): Require AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN.  Also put $FLIBS
        after $LIBS, for consistency; this should be the general rule since
        the user may want to link to Fortran libraries that require $FLIBS.
        * autoconf.texi: Document AC_F77_DUMMY_MAIN and AC_F77_MAIN.

2001-06-29  Pavel Roskin  <address@hidden>

        * atgeneral.m4 (AT_CHECK): Add a newline to the end of
        at-stdout and at-stderr instead of removing the newline
        from the echo output, which is not guaranteed to work.

2001-06-28  Jens Petersen  <address@hidden>

        * aclang.m4 (_AC_PROG_CXX_EXIT_DECLARATION): Only add declaration to
        confdefs.h when non-zero.

2001-06-28  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * configure.in: Bump to 2.50c.