Re: [PATCH] {maint} distcheck: add support for AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS

[Eric Blake]

On 06/15/2011 11:16 AM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> Hi Eric.
>> As for a valid use of AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS, the m4 package
>> normally configures --without-changeword, but it is useful to have 'make
>> distcheck' exercise the --with-changeword option to ensure that the code
>> still compiles for those few people that want to enable the experimental
>> configure option.  m4 also uses it to stress-test --program-prefix=g
>> (since at one point m4 had a problem where 'make installcheck' was
>> assuming it could blindly test "m4" rather than the just-installed "gm4"
>> when that renaming option was in effect - see m4.git commit fb04a26fa).
>> I've previously been using DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS for that purpose,
>> but like the idea of AM_DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS better.
>>
> Thank you very much for this real-world example!  Right now I'm in the
> middle of trying to write decent documentation fo the new "custom test
> divers" feature of Automake parallel-tests, but once I've finished that
> I'd like to incorporate your example in my patch.  Or, if you want and
> have time, feel free to write a patch on the top of mine, substituting
> your real-world example to my artificial.
> 
> In any case, it would be nice to refer to the exact m4 version that
> exhibits the the behaviour you've described.  So, what is that version?

Digging through git history of released versions of m4:

It looks like m4 1.4.10 and earlier flat out failed 'make installcheck'
if configure had used --program-prefix=g.  m4 1.4.11 tried to fix this
(commit f63f456), but it took commit 4cfbc09 (the
DISTCHECK_CONFIGURE_FLAGS --program-prefix=g backport) to detect one
more issue, fixed in commit fc6be71, for the end result that m4 1.4.12
was the first release where 'make installcheck' should reliably work
regardless of transformed program names.

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/m4-patches/2008-03/msg00012.html
documents where I learned about the bug, based on an earlier libtool bug
found by Ralf.

-- 
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org

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