Re: [FYI] NEWS: document fix for automake bug#13514

[Stefano Lattarini]

[Re-adding the list]

On 04/21/2013 12:37 PM, Jack Kelly wrote:
> Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden> writes:
>> On 04/21/2013 11:28 AM, Jack Kelly wrote:
>>> Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden> writes:
>>>> +  - Aclocal no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more than
>>>> +    once, even if they are specified multiple times.  This prevents
>>>> +    problems in older packages that specify both
>>
>> It is; in fact, it is the right thing to do to support both Automake < 1.13
>> and Automake 1.13.x.  The bug was due to the fact that this usage wasn't
>> correctly supported in some corner-cases.
>>
>> If the NEWS entry does not make that clear, I'd gladly accept suggestions
>> on how to improve it.
> 
> It comes across like making the old packages work is a side-effect of
> fixing the double-listing for other reasons. Possibly because it's not
> obvious that the fix is connected to the breaking behaviour in old
> packages.
> 
> Should "Aclocal" be written in lower-case or in quotes?
> 
> The best I can come up with is this:
> 
> aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more than
> once, even if they are specified multiple times.  This ensures packages
> that specify both
> 
>   AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
> 
> and
> 
>   ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4
> 
> will work correctly.  (Both are needed for automake < 1.13 .)
> 
I like this wording.  I have prepared a patch using it, with minor adjustments.
The patch is below.  Opinions?

> Note: ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated and future versions (over the next
> several years) will raise warnings and errors before its final removal.
> 
OTOH, this is already reported in the "Future backward incompatibilities"
section of NEWS, so there is no need to repeat it here.

Thanks,
  Stefano

---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ---- >8 ----

>From 197f746ea059f63422c3c6f5fac841691f72ecca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Message-Id: <address@hidden>
From: Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden>
Date: Sun, 21 Apr 2013 16:59:05 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] NEWS: improve wording for automake bug#13514 fix

Helped-by: Jack Kelly <address@hidden>
Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <address@hidden>
---
 NEWS | 18 +++++++++---------
 1 file changed, 9 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 06c012f..b8d65df 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -127,23 +127,23 @@ New in 1.13.2:
     Automake 1.13, has turned out to be a similarly very bad idea,
     for exactly the same reason.

-  - Aclocal no longer error out if the first local m4 directory (as
+  - aclocal no longer error out if the first local m4 directory (as
     specified by the '-I' option or the 'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS' or
     'AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR' macros) doesn't exist; it merely report a
     warning in the 'unsupported' category.  This is done to support
-    some pre-existing real-world usages; refer to automake bug#13514
-    for more details.
+    some pre-existing real-world usages.  See automake bug#13514.

-  - Aclocal no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more than
-    once, even if they are specified multiple times.  This prevents
-    problems in older packages that specify both
+  - aclocal will no longer consider directories for extra m4 files more
+    than once, even if they are specified multiple times.  This ensures
+    packages that specify both

         AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])       in configure.ac
         ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS = -I m4         in Makefile.am

-    If the 'm4' directory did not exist when aclocal was called the first
-    time by autoreconf, an error would have ensued with Automake 1.13 and
-    1.13.1.  See automake bug#13514.
+    will work correctly, even when the 'm4' directory contains no
+    package-specific files, but is used only to install third-party
+    m4 files (as can happen with e.g., "libtoolize --install").
+    See automake bug#13514.

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