Re: How to use cache variables

[Akim Demaille]

>>>>> "John" == John D Burger <address@hidden> writes:

John> Lars Hecking:

>> The names are fairly obvious, and there's a section in the autoconf
>> manual that explains them (Results of Tests->Caching Results->Cache
>> Variable Names).

John> Thomas Dickey:

>> Though the mechanism is (has been) documented, the convention for
>> several macros has changed a couple of times over autoconf's
>> history.

John> That's my concern - the names themselves are not documented, so
John> it's less surprising that they might change than that documented
John> behavior might change.  (Of course I don't mean that
John> ac_cv_header_foobar_h is not mentioned in the Autoconf docs, I
John> mean even the format of the cache variable that
John> AC_CHECK_HEADER(foobar.h) generates is not =explicitly=
John> documented.)

This has been a default in Autoconf for years.  I have a few ideas on
how to remove this problem, while at the same time enable the
implementation of other features.  But it requires severe surgery,
which is not possible at this stage.  Maybe for the next release.

Anyway, there are so many scripts depending on these names, that
whatever scheme will be chosen, we will keep them.