Re: AC quoting rules

[Bruce Korb]

Paul Eggert wrote:

> I was hoping for a method that didn't need that much work, in which
> (say) each macro definition or nesting level is tagged by its quoting
> symbols, so that when a string is expanded its quoting symbols are
> handles as its author expected.

That would be AutoGen.  :-)

> But this is not primarily a quoting issue; it's primarily an issue
> with the complexity of the autoconf macros, and the fact that they've
> grown with time incrementally.  (A related issue is that neither
> AC_LINK_IFELSE nor AC_LANG_PROGRAM are documented.  :-)

and AC_LIBSOURCES.  Even reading source leaves me somewhat
puzzled about it.

> If I had some free time, I'd argue for something with less repetition,
> e.g.[[:...]]
> 
> I'd like something even simpler, but that will take more time to think
> about....

That's why I like the online form.
Probably could use a simpler method to save the
result, though.  WRT relative complexity of your
example, I would point out that the main difference
is that I assign names to values instead of depending
on argument position, and you skipped the "checking"
messages.  But I think we agree:  ways need to be
found to make it simpler and easier.

-- 

Bruce Korb <first initial + last name at gnu dot org>
AG URL: http://autogen.sourceforge.net/conftest.html