Re: GNU Autoconf test version 2.59d available

[Paul Eggert]

Andreas Büning <address@hidden> writes:

> - The code that searches for the best shell (_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL,
>   around line 234 in lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4) doesn't use 
> $ac_executable_extensions,
>   so for systems which use .exe extensions no shell can be found here.
>   Please, correct this. If you like I'll write the necessary one or two lines
>   to patch this.

It might be more than one or two lines, I'm afraid.  However, thanks
for reporting it; I installed the following temporary workaround
below.

By the way: on your host, does "test -x foo" succeed if foo.exe is
executable?

>   Btw, ac_executable_extension seems to be undocumented.

That's probably on purpose, as I expect that interface might change in
the future.

> I still had 2.59 installed in my $PATH

Yes, it's bad juju to try to mix autoconf versions in the same build.
That's always been true, but I expect people don't remember it since
it's been so long since the last release.  Maybe a NEWS warning is
in order....

Anyway, thanks again.

2006-06-07  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL): Look for
        $as_shell.exe too.  Problem reported by Andreas Buening in
        <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2006-06/msg00038.html>.

--- lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 31 May 2006 09:44:39 -0000      1.190
+++ lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 7 Jun 2006 23:46:47 -0000       1.191
@@ -160,6 +160,11 @@ $2
 # AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE
 # --------------------
 # Try to be as Bourne and/or POSIX as possible.
+#
+# FIXME: The assignment to BIN_SH is dubious; see
+# <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf-patches/2006-03/msg00081.html>.
+# It might be better to remove it, but first please see
+# <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-autoconf/2006-06/msg00025.html>.
 m4_define([AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE],
 [# Be Bourne compatible
 if test -n "${ZSH_VERSION+set}" && (emulate sh) >/dev/null 2>&1; then
@@ -217,6 +222,18 @@ m4_expand_once([m4_append([_AS_DETECT_SU
 # -----------------------
 # The real workhorse for detecting a shell with the correct
 # features.
+#
+# FIXME: The '/usr/bin/posix' below works around a shell bug in OSF
+# <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf-patches/2006-03/msg00081.html>
+# but this causes a regression on OpenServer 6.0.0
+# <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-autoconf/2006-06/msg00017.html>
+# The code should test for the OSF bug directly rather than look at
+# /usr/bin/posix here.
+#
+# FIXME: The 'test -f "$as_shell.exe"' works around a problem in OS/2
+# <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2006-06/msg00038.html>
+# but we should replace the two test -f calls with a single AS_EXECUTABLE_P.
+#
 m4_defun_once([_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL],
 [m4_wrap([m4_divert_text([M4SH-SANITIZE], [
 AS_REQUIRE([_AS_UNSET_PREPARE])dnl
@@ -237,8 +254,8 @@ if test "x$CONFIG_SHELL" = x; then
        esac])
 
       for as_shell in $as_candidate_shells $SHELL; do
-        # Try only shells which exist, to save several forks.
-        AS_IF([test -f "$as_shell" &&
+        # Try only shells that exist, to save several forks.
+        AS_IF([{ test -f "$as_shell" || test -f "$as_shell.exe"; } &&
                _AS_RUN([_AS_DETECT_REQUIRED_BODY],
                         [("$as_shell") 2> /dev/null])],
               [CONFIG_SHELL=$as_shell
@@ -1000,6 +1017,7 @@ esac[]dnl
 # ----------------
 # Find out ahead of time whether ``test -x'' can be used to distinguish
 # executables from other regular files.
+# FIXME: This should use "test -x /"; that's much faster.
 m4_defun([_AS_TEST_PREPARE],
 [# Find out whether ``test -x'' works.  Don't use a zero-byte file, as
 # systems may use methods other than mode bits to determine executability.