Being in a situation where it is necessary to port some Linux software to a very old UNIX (OpenServer 5.0.7), and recognizing this platform is sadly dated and not supported, some advice is sought regarding a challenge with trying to use gnulib to add some missing things.
As the vendor supplied autotools were dated (automake 1.7.1 and its friends), it seemed necessary/prudent to build newer autotools ... successfully done up to automake 1.9.6, autoconf 2.6.5, and m4 1.4.9. It is not clear how viable to try to progress past this point, but, it may be possible that with these tools one could move further ahead, but, at the time, various package build failures using the old tool chain required backing off this far from current. (Newb alert: This is my first attempt at an endeavor such as this.) This is what I did (for starters) with a recent gnulib pulled from git a few weeks ago: $ gnulib-tool --import getopt-posix Suggested configure.ac and Makefile.am were made, then, with the old tools, Without the newer tools, a recent gnulib pulled from git a few weeks ago now said: $ autoreconf autoreconf: `aclocal.m4' is unchanged autoheader: `config.h.in' is unchanged lib/Makefile.am:145: GL_GENERATE_STDDEF_H does not appear in AM_CONDITIONAL lib/Makefile.am:26: require Automake 1.9.6, but have 1.7.1 autoreconf: automake failed with exit status: 1 With the new tools, progress: $ autoreconf lib/Makefile.am:145: GL_GENERATE_STDDEF_H does not appear in AM_CONDITIONAL autoreconf: automake failed with exit status: 1 Not knowing how to resolve this last error, I found: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnulib/2011-05/msg00467.html http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-automake/2011-05/msg00023.html https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=8718 Here I see what seems to be an issue that was marked as WONTFIX, and, in the debbugs.gnu.org thread, a potential workaround posted by Bruno Haible, but, finding myself unsure how to implement the workaround, it seems reasonable to try for advice here. In the aforementioned message threads, can be found mention that this issue is related to a gnulib "conditional dependencies" feature, and, looking at git, the feature appears to have been developed between 2011-05-03 through 2011-05-28 based on commits by Bruno Haible. It seems somewhat plausible to back down my git checkout to just prior to this date and make an attempt to use an old gnulib, and that is all the idea I have to try at the moment considering my minimal experience with the autotools. In any case, any advice given on how to proceed in this case is much certainly appreciated. Apologies in advance that this regard such dated resources. Sadly, in the near term, it is difficult to shrug off these old rusty chains in a timely manner. Does the approach of backing down to an old gnulib seem best, or am I perhaps not so far from a plausible workaround with a top-of-tree gnulib? (Considering the age of the target system, certainly working with an old gnulib can hardly be much of a stumbling block.) -- Kevin R. Bulgrien
