On Sun, 17 May 2009, Peter O'Gorman wrote:
Hi Bob,
You can use m4_easycmd to run your scripts at autoconf time. E.g. (from
autoconf itself):
AC_INIT([GNU Autoconf],
m4_esyscmd([build-aux/git-version-gen .tarball-version]),
[[email protected]])
I still owe you large quantities of beer. However, in order to
clarify, I would like to be able to execute configure script shell
script code (more like a configure test) and not generate a new
configure script just because the version has changed.
It turns out that the current approach is just an artifact of how
things have been done since day one. The reality is that the
configure script does not care more about package version (or name,
etc.) any more than any other data that the configure script figures
out. It just needs a way to readily produce the information for
informational messages.
A proper solution would allow the configure script to determine the
version via user provided shell code. For example, the libtiff
package includes the file VERSION yet the person doing the release
always needs to remember to make sure that the VERSION file and the
number in configure.ac are in sync. As long as the makefile includes
rules to cover any added dependency relationships, then there is no
problem.
For GraphicsMagick "daily" snapshots, my shell code creates a snapshot
date based on the most recent ChangeLog entry and this is used as part
of the version. The generated configure script never gets updated
unless functionality has been changed.
If m4_esyscmd can be mentioned here, can a user-provided macro (which
invokes shell code) be invoked from the same place?
Bob
--
Bob Friesenhahn
[email protected], http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
