Re: calling autoreconf and minimizing rebuilds

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello Ralf,

On Fri, Sep 08, 2006 at 09:50:48PM +0200, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> > > +test -f $HOME/.autom4te.cfg && exit 77
> 
> [...], but better be safer than sorry: this test does
> not need to be executed on many systems in order to be effective.

you are right, of course; thanks for explanation.

> > For the tail of the script, I would use something like:
> > 
> > $ACLOCAL
> > $AUTOCONF
> > : >stamp
> > $sleep
> > $AUTOMAKE
> > test -z "`find configure -newer stamp`"
> 
> Running automake never causes an updated `configure' script.

Sure, sorry for the mistake.

> Closer.  We need to sleep before the first aclocal,

I do not understand why, but I'm afraid it has something to do with
your explanation how aclocal and autm4te work.  I would be grateful
for an explanation.

> [...] and sleep before the
> stamp (otherwise it's not guaranteed to be younger than configure),

Why does stamp has to be younger than configure?  Actually, I would
use `test -r configure stamp' if it were portable.

> and $status is forbidden.  And aclocal already fails with 63 if autoconf is
> too old.  And I would like to be stronger (compare aclocal7.test) in
> that aclocal should not cause autoconf to rebuild configure either.
> Finally, using && and || inside if-then or else clauses is unhealthy
> with `set -e' on some BSD shells.

Thanks for fixing all these.

>       * configure.ac: Preserve original values of `$AUTORECONF'
>       and `$AUTOHEADER', to avoid the `missing' script.
>       * tests/defs.in: Adjust.

You deleted am_AUTORECONF from the code, but not from the chlog
entry.  I suggest to reinstert it to the code, to prevent an
unpleasant surprise later.

Thanks for your work!

Stepan