Michael Biebl <bi...@debian.org> writes: > Ben Pfaff wrote: >> Michael Biebl <bi...@debian.org> writes: >>> I followed the advise from libtoolize and added >>> `AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])' to configure.ac and >>> `-I m4' to ACLOCAL_AMFLAGS in Makefile.am >>> >>> When I now run "autoreconf -vfi" from a fresh git checkout, where the >>> (empty) m4/ directory does not yet exist, I get a failure: [...] >>> I suggest that either autoreconf or aclocal should create that >>> directory, before any of the tools tries to copy it's macro files there. >> It's hard for me to see exactly why any of the tools should >> create this directory. > > libtoolize already does it that way.
autoreconf runs libtoolize first, so I guess this is for packages that do not use libtool then? >> It seems to me that, if you want files to >> be put in a particular source directory, it's reasonable for the >> tools to assume that you have already created that directory. >> >> Can you explain why you think this is a bug? > > Principle of least surprise. > If the tools can create the directory itself and not fail, why > should they not do it? It would also be consistent with what > libtoolize is already doing. To me, it seems like it would be reasonable for aclocal to create the "m4" directory if it is being asked to copy files into it, that is, if aclocal is being invoked with --install. But autoreconf as far as I can tell never invokes aclocal with --install, so this would not help. Actually, I am now a little confused. If your package does not have any of its own M4 files in m4/, and it does not use libtoolize, and it does not expect --install to be used with aclocal, then where are the files in m4/ eventually coming from? Perhaps I just misunderstand (sometimes the autotools still catch me by surprise after many years). Actually, it is a little unusual that aclocal complains about nonexistent macro search directories at all. Most Unix software does not complain about nonexistent directories in search paths (e.g. $PATH and "cc -I"). Perhaps we should find out why aclocal is different. -- "Long noun chains don't automatically imply security." --Bruce Schneier -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
