Re: AC_INIT receiving PACKAGE_VERSION from outside

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello,

On Thu, Mar 10, 2005 at 01:13:47PM -0500, Sam Steingold wrote:
> Is there a way to keep the package version outside of
> configure.ac:AC_INIT?
...
> . ./version.sh
> AC_INIT(my package, ${myversion})

this solution doesn't work, as AC_INIT expects that it's arguments are
known when m4 runs (ie. when configure is created).

gnumeric uses the following solution:

m4_define([gnumeric_version_epoch], [1])
m4_define([gnumeric_version_major], [5])
m4_define([gnumeric_version_minor], [1])
m4_define([gnumeric_version_extra], [])
m4_define([gnumeric_full_version],
    
[gnumeric_version_epoch.gnumeric_version_major.gnumeric_version_minor[]gnumeric_version_extra])

AC_INIT([gnumeric], [gnumeric_full_version],
        [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnumeric])

Of course, this can be simplified:

m4_define([gnumeric_full_version], 1.5.1)
AC_INIT([gnumeric], [gnumeric_full_version],
        [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnumeric])

In your case, you would put the defines in a separate file, and include it
like this

m4_include([m4/version.m4])
AC_INIT([gnumeric], [gnumeric_full_version],
        [http://bugzilla.gnome.org/enter_bug.cgi?product=gnumeric])

OTOH, I'm not sure why you need this.
According to my experience, it's easy to set the source so that configure.ac
is the only place where the version number is present.

Enjoy,
        Stepan Kasal