Hi Peter. On 01/27/2013 12:26 AM, Peter Rosin wrote: > On 2012-12-29 00:39, Stefano Lattarini wrote: >> The autoconf input should be named 'configure.ac' instead. The use >> of 'configure.in' has been deprecated in Autoconf since at least >> the 2.13 -> 2.50 transition, and future Autoconf versions (starting >> with 2.70 probably) will start to warn about it at runtime. Automake >> has been warning about it since the 1.13 release. > > Hi Stefano, > > Sluggish projects with the repo in CVS and still using configure.in > will positively *hate* this change. > Do you have any example of such projects in the real world? That I know of, there are GNU Binutils and GDB (and related sub-projects possibly); but they require precise Autotools version AFAIK, and no distro packager is going to re-bootstrap them with different versions just for fun.
> You are forcing these projects > to either get a dent in their history or to change tools. > This second possibility does actually sound appealing ... But in practice, "sluggish projects" that I know (e.g., binutils) of are still using Automake 1.11.1 and Autoconf 2.64 ... > I suspect distro people will also hate this change, especially so since > the sluggish projects might just be so sluggish that they stay with older > tools just because of this change, shifting the burden to the distro > people. Is the burden for Automake really that large? > No, but lots of little burdens make a noticeable one in the end. > Do you really want to risk rushing out a 1.14.1 reverting the whole > thing when the pressure starts to build? > No; what I want to do this time is wait at least one month before the first pre-release and the final release, and elicit the feedback of distro packagers; so that we'll have real data to judge the cost/benefits of this change. In addition, the runtime deprecation of configure.in has been in place since 1.12.x, so that we are not repeating the horrible mistake done with AM_CONFIG_HEADER were "we" (read: me) went directly from a mere deprecation in the manual to a complete removal. Regards, Stefano
