* NEWS: Here. In particular, list (some of) the planned future backward-incompatibilities that will take place in Automake 1.14.
Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattar...@gmail.com> --- NEWS | 135 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------------------------------------- 1 file changed, 55 insertions(+), 80 deletions(-) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index 982233f..c61ec15 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -1,23 +1,61 @@ New in 1.13: +* WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities! + + - Automake 1.14 will likely require Autoconf 2.70 or later (which is + still unreleased at the moment of writing, but is planned to be + released before Automake 1.14 is). + + - Automake 1.14 will likely drop support for the long-deprecated + 'configure.in' name for the Autoconf input file. You are advised + to use the recommended name 'configure.ac' instead. + + - The long-obsolete (since automake 1.10) AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro will + be removed in Automake 1.14. The $(mkdir_p) make variable and the + @mkdir_p@ substitution will still remain available (as aliases of + $(MKDIR_P)) for the moment, for better backward compatibility; but + you are advised to stop using ASAP. + + - The ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS special make variable will be fully deprecated + in Automake 1.14 (where it will raise warnings in the "obsolete" + category). You are advised to start relying on the new Automake + support for AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS instead (which is introduced with + this release; see below for more information). + + - Support for IRIX and the SGI C/C++ compilers will be removed in + Automake 1.14: they have seen their last release in 2006, and SGI + is expected to retire support from them in December 2013; see + <http://www.sgi.com/services/support/irix_mips_support.html> for + more information. + + - Support for the long-deprecated INCLUDES variable will be removed + altogether in Automake 1.14. The AM_CPPFLAGS variable should be + used instead. + + - Automake-provided scripts and makefile recipes might (finally!) + start assuming a POSIX shell in Automake 1.14. + + - Starting from Automake 1.14, third-party m4 files located in the + system-wide aclocal directory, as well as in any directory listed + in the ACLOCAL_PATH environment variable, will take precedence + over "built-in" Automake macros. For example (assuming Automake + is installed in the /usr/local hierarchy), a definition of the + AM_PROG_VALAC macro found in '/usr/local/share/aclocal/my-vala.m4' + should take precedence over the same-named automake-provided macro + (defined in '/usr/local/share/aclocal-1.14/vala.m4'). + * Version requirements: - - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is required. + - Autoconf 2.65 or greater is now required. - The rules to build PDF and DVI output from Texinfo input now - requires Texinfo 4.9 or later. + require Texinfo 4.9 or later. + +* Obsolete features: - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (once enabled by the 'cygnus' option) has been removed. See discussion about automake bug#11034 - for more background. - - - The automake-provided '@mkdir_p@' configure substitution and - AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro have been removed. They had been obsolete - since automake 1.10, and actively deprecated since Automake 1.12.1. - However, to maintain a degree of backward-compatibility, the make - variable '$(mkdir_p)' is still defined (now simple as an alias to - '$(MKDIR_P)'). It will probably be removed in future major versions - of Automake (probably 1.14). + for more background: <debbugs.gnu.org/11034>. - The deprecated aclocal option '--acdir' has been removed. You should use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir' @@ -39,8 +77,6 @@ New in 1.13: - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' have been removed. -* Obsolescent features: - - Use of the long-deprecated two- and three-arguments invocation forms of the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is no longer documented. It's still supported though (albeit with a warning in the 'obsolete' category), to cater @@ -100,6 +136,9 @@ New in 1.13: * Texinfo Support: + - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now require + Texinfo 4.9 or later. + - The rules to build PDF and DVI files from Texinfo input now use the '--build-dir' option, to keep the auxiliary files used by texi2dvi and texi2pdf around without cluttering the build directory, and to @@ -139,10 +178,9 @@ New in 1.13: * Improvements to aclocal and related rebuilds rules: - Autoconf-provided macros AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR and AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS - (the latter of which will only be present since Autoconf 2.70) are - now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4 include - directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit '-I' - option to the 'aclocal' invocation. + are now traced by aclocal, and can be used to declare the local m4 + include directories. Formerly, one had to specify it with an explicit + '-I' option to the 'aclocal' invocation. - The special make variable ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS is deprecated; future Automake versions will warn about its use, and later version will @@ -165,69 +203,6 @@ New in 1.13: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -New in 1.12.6: - -* WARNING: Future backward-incompatibilities! - - - Future versions of Automake will likely drop support for the - long-deprecated 'configure.in' name for the Autoconf input file. - You are advised to use the recommended name 'configure.ac' instead. - - - Support for the "Cygnus-style" trees (as enabled by the 'cygnus' - option) will be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13). - - - The long-obsolete (since automake 1.10) AM_PROG_MKDIR m4 macro will - be removed in Automake 1.14. The $(mkdir_p) make variable and the - @mkdir_p@ substitution will still remain available (as aliases of - $(MKDIR_P)) for the moment, for better backward compatibility. - - - Autoconf 2.65 or later will be required by the next major Automake - version (1.13). Until now, Automake has required Autoconf version - 2.62 or later. - - - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the rules - to build pdf, ps and dvi output from Texinfo input will use the - '--build-dir' option by default. Since such an option was only - introduced in Texinfo 4.9, this means that Makefiles generated by - future Automake versions will require at least that version of - Texinfo. - - - Starting from the next major Automake version (1.13), the parallel - testsuite harness (previously only enabled by the 'parallel-tests' - option) will become the default one; the older serial testsuite - harness will still be available through the use of the 'serial-tests' - option. - - - The following long-obsolete m4 macros will be removed in the - next major Automake version (1.13): - - AM_PROG_CC_STDC: superseded by AC_PROG_CC since October 2002 - fp_PROG_CC_STDC: broken alias for AM_PROG_CC_STDC - fp_WITH_DMALLOC: old alias for AM_WITH_DMALLOC - AM_CONFIG_HEADER: superseded by AC_CONFIG_HEADERS since July 2002 - ud_PATH_LISPDIR: old alias for AM_PATH_LISPDIR - jm_MAINTAINER_MODE: old alias for AM_MAINTAINER_MODE - ud_GNU_GETTEXT: old alias for AM_GNU_GETTEXT - gm_PROG_LIBTOOL: old alias for AC_PROG_LIBTOOL - fp_C_PROTOTYPES: old alias for AM_C_PROTOTYPES (which was part - of the now-removed automatic de-ANSI-fication - support of Automake) - - - All the "old alias" macros in 'm4/obsolete.m4' will be removed in - the next major Automake version (1.13). - - - The '--acdir' option of aclocal is deprecated, and will probably - be removed in the next major Automake release (1.13). You should - use the options '--automake-acdir' and '--system-acdir' instead - (which have been introduced in Automake 1.11.2). - - - The 'missing' script will no longer try to update the timestamp - of out-of-date files that require a maintainer-specific tool to be - remade, in case the user lacks such a tool (or has a too-old version - of it). In fact, starting from Automake 1.13, all it'll do will be - giving more useful warnings than a bare "command not found" from a - make recipe would. - Bugs fixed in 1.12.6: * Python-related bugs: -- 1.8.0.1.347.gf94c325
