Re: autoconf config issue: what does ``|#_!!_#|'' mean?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

* quoting myself:
> grepping config.status for values is _not_ an appropriate, documented
> way of extracting configure test results.

Just to give this a constructive side:

If you[1] would like to know the result of
Autoconf tests, there are config files and config headers that transport
this information.  So you could
  AC_CONFIG_FILES([foo])
  AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([bar.h])

and for each substituted item sub, you put
  address@hidden@

in foo.in (modulo quoting necessary for the language that is to read
foo later), and for each defined item def you put
  #undef def

in bar.h.in.  There are measures to automate both input file
generations, so you don't have to list all the names involved:
autoheader works for the latter.  For the former, you can either use
automake (if your goal is to create a makefile) or, in the
same spirit as automake, trace the list of substitutions.  For the
latter, try
  autoconf -t AC_SUBST

in an autotooled package.  But before using the output of that blindly,
*please* go and read the documentation[2].

Cheers,
Ralf

[1] I know you know this, Bruce.
[2] 
http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/html_node/autoconf-Invocation.html#index-Back-trace-15
    and surroundings, and links therein.