document current beta-quality status

[Eric Blake]

I noticed that the "* Status" message at the end of configure wasn't always 
being printed, when doing diffs of the various configures produced by 
incremental git updates.  Now that we use git-version-gen, beta versions don't 
necessarily have a letter in the version (case in point: 2.63.129-52773).  
Meanwhile, I still haven't done anything about the fact that cygwin fails 
parallel autotest.  And since there were still reports during 2008 of systems 
where the best shell found was a version of zsh that failed the function tests, 
it would be nice to know how prevelant those systems really are, and whether we 
can/must work around the zsh bugs.  (It was fun figuring out how to print one 
email address for autoconf, but two for coreutils; thank goodness for 
m4_text_wrap to make the output look nicer).  I'm committing this:

From: Eric Blake <address@hidden>
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:27:11 -0600
Subject: [PATCH] Document current beta-quality status.

* configure.ac: Reflect fact that change to git-version-gen
produces -, but not always a letter, on non-release builds.
* BUGS: Mention known issues.
* lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL): Ask for help in
debugging platforms with deficient shells.

Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <address@hidden>
---
 BUGS                |   14 ++++++++++----
 ChangeLog           |    9 +++++++++
 configure.ac        |    4 ++--
 lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 |   13 +++++++++----
 4 files changed, 30 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)

diff --git a/BUGS b/BUGS
index 2f29689..b2ca081 100644
--- a/BUGS
+++ b/BUGS
@@ -24,8 +24,14 @@ and use with caution an Autoconf with ``Important bugs''.
 
 * Status
 
-                    /*--------------------------.
-                    | Sane for full scale use.  |
-                    `--------------------------*/
+                 /*------------------------------------.
+                 | New features need further testing.  |
+                 `------------------------------------*/
 
-* No known serious or important bugs.
+* Now that configure depends on shell functions, it is possible that
+  configure scripts may fail to run on old platforms that lack a shell
+  with proper function support.
+
+* Cygwin has known problems with named fifos that cause failures when
+  attempting parallel tests in an autotest suite.  It is possible that
+  other platforms also have difficulty with parallel testing.
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index b115e0a..c59bb94 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 2008-10-29  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
 
+       Document current beta-quality status.
+       * configure.ac: Reflect fact that change to git-version-gen
+       produces -, but not always a letter, on non-release builds.
+       * BUGS: Mention known issues.
+       * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL): Ask for help in
+       debugging platforms with deficient shells.
+
+2008-10-29  Eric Blake  <address@hidden>
+
        Alter signature of AS_INIT_GENERATED.
        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (AS_INIT_GENERATED): Add parameters, and
        manage here-doc and chmod in place.  This also allows future
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index d4f1908..a5fcad0 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile doc/Makefile
 
 AC_OUTPUT
 # Report the state of this version of Autoconf if this is a beta.
-m4_bmatch(m4_defn([AC_PACKAGE_VERSION]),  [[a-z]],
+m4_bmatch(m4_defn([AC_PACKAGE_VERSION]), [[-a-z]],
 [    cat <<EOF
 
 You are about to use an experimental version of Autoconf.  Be sure to
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ read the relevant mailing lists, most importantly 
<address@hidden>.
 
 Below you will find information on the status of this version of Autoconf.
 
-
 EOF
     sed -n '/^\* Status/,$p' $srcdir/BUGS
+echo
 ])dnl
diff --git a/lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 b/lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4
index 187920c..a9b6aec 100644
--- a/lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4
+++ b/lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4
@@ -236,11 +236,16 @@ dnl Remove any tests from suggested that are also required
        export CONFIG_SHELL
        exec "$CONFIG_SHELL" "$as_myself" ${1+"address@hidden"}])
 
+dnl Unfortunately, $as_me isn't available here.
     AS_IF([test x$as_have_required = xno],
-      [echo This script requires a shell more modern than all the
-      echo shells that I found on your system.  Please install a
-      echo modern shell, or manually run the script under such a
-      echo shell if you do have one.
+      [AS_ECHO("m4_text_wrap([This script requires a shell more modern than
+all the shells that I found on your system.  Please tell]
+m4_defn([m4_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT])
+m4_ifset([AC_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT], [m4_if(m4_defn([m4_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT]),
+m4_defn([AC_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT]), [], [ and m4_defn([AC_PACKAGE_BUGREPORT])])])
+[about your system, including any error possibly output before this message.
+Then install a modern shell, or manually run the script under such a
+shell if you do have one.], [$[]0: ], [], [62])")
       AS_EXIT(1)])])
 fi
 _m4_popdef([AS_EXIT])])# _AS_DETECT_BETTER_SHELL
-- 
1.6.0.2