GNU Autoconf test version 2.59c available

[Ralf Wildenhues]

GNU Autoconf test version 2.59c is now available.

This is an alpha release.  We aim to generate the next Autoconf release
soon, once the bugs are shaken out and things have stabilized enough.

Of the list of changes since 2.59b below, please take special note of
the GCS-related changes to the directory variables which require manual
changes for projects not using Automake; and of the changes to the
macros AC_PROG_CC and AC_PROG_CXX which no longer provide a declaration
for the 'exit' function and thus may require changes to your own macros.

Please send bug reports to <address@hidden>.


Here are the compressed sources:
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.59c.tar.gz   (1.3M)

Here is the GPG detached signature:
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.59c.tar.gz.sig

Here are the MD5 and SHA1 signatures:

3e432aee0aa352cc5d192f7e02c312c5  autoconf-2.59c.tar.gz
cd0f95dc8ec50874f5d548086baebd994b2f3919  autoconf-2.59c.tar.gz

Here is a list of major changes since 2.59b:

** The configure command now redirects standard input from /dev/null,
  to help avoid problems with subsidiary commands that might mistakenly
  read standard input.  AS_ORIGINAL_STDIN_FD points to the original
  standard input before this redirection, if you really want configure to
  read from standard input.

** Directory variables adjusted to recent changes in the GNU Coding Standards.
  The following directory variables are new:

    datarootdir   read-only architecture-independent data root [PREFIX/share]
    localedir     locale-specific message catalogs [DATAROOTDIR/locale]
    docdir        documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/PACKAGE]
    htmldir       html documentation [DOCDIR]
    dvidir        dvi documentation [DOCDIR]
    pdfdir        pdf documentation [DOCDIR]
    psdir         ps documentation [DOCDIR]

  The following variables have new default values:

    datadir       read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR]
    infodir       info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info]
    mandir        man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man]

  This means that if you use any of address@hidden@', address@hidden@', or
  address@hidden@' in a file, you will have to ensure `${datarootdir}' is
  defined in this file.  As a temporary measure, if any of those are
  found but no mention of `datarootdir', the substitutions will be
  replaced with values that do not contain `${datarootdir}', and a
  warning will be issued.

** @top_builddir@ is now a dir name: it is always nonempty and doesn't have
  a trailing slash.  Similar change will be made to ac_top_builddir in a
  future release; the old style value, which matches (../)*, is (and will
  continue to be) available as ac_top_build_prefix.

** AC_C_TYPEOF
  New macro to check for support of 'typeof' syntax a la GNU C.

** AC_CHECK_DECLS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_FUNCS_ONCE, AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE
  New "once-only" variants of commonly-used macros, to make 'configure'
  smaller and faster in common cases.

** AC_FUNC_STRTOLD
  New macro to check for strtold with C99 semantics.

** AC_HEADER_ASSERT
  New macro that lets builder disable assertions at 'configure'-time.

** AC_PATH_X
  Now checks for X11/Xlib.h and XrmInitialize (X proper) rather than
  X11/Intrinsic.h and XtMalloc (Xt).

** AC_PRESERVE_HELP_ORDER
  New macro that causes `configure' to display help strings for AC_ARG_ENABLE
  and AC_ARG_WITH arguments in one region, in the order defined.  The default
  behavior is to group options of each classes separately.

** AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXX
  No longer automatically arrange to declare the 'exit' function of C,
  when a C++ compiler is used.  Standard Autoconf macros no longer use
  'exit', so this is no longer an issue for them.  If you use C++, and
  want to call 'exit', you'll have to arrange for its declaration
  yourself.  But we now suggest you return from 'main' instead.

** AC_PROG_CC_C89, AC_PROG_CC_C99
  New macros for ISO C99 support.  AC_PROG_CC_C89 and AC_PROG_CC_C99
  check for ANSI C89 and ISO C99 support respectively.

** AC_PROG_CC_STDC
  Has been unobsoleted, and will check if the compiler supports ISO
  C99, falling back to ANSI C89 if not.  ac_cv_prog_cc_stdc is
  retained for backwards compatibility, assuming the value of
  ac_cv_prog_cc_c99 or ac_cv_prog_cc_c89 (whichever is valid, in
  that order).

** AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_INO, AC_STRUCT_DIRENT_D_TYPE
  New macros for checking commonly-used members of struct dirent.

** AC_SUBST
  The subtituted value can now contain newlines.

** AC_SUBST_FILE
  The substitution now occurs only when @variable@ is on a line by itself,
  optionally surrounded by spaces and tabs.  The whole line is replaced.

** AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE, AC_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE_WIDER
  New macros to check for long double, and whether it is wider than double.
  The old macro AC_C_TYPE_LONG_DOUBLE has been marked as obsolete;
  applications should switch to the new macro.

** AC_TYPE_INT8_T, AC_TYPE_INT16_T, AC_TYPE_INT32_T, AC_TYPE_INT64_T,
   AC_TYPE_INTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_INTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT, AC_TYPE_SSIZE_T,
   AC_TYPE_UINT8_T, AC_TYPE_UINT16_T, AC_TYPE_UINT32_T, AC_TYPE_UINT64_T,
   AC_TYPE_UINTMAX_T, AC_TYPE_UINTPTR_T, AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT
  New macros to check for C99 and POSIX types.

** AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
  New macro to enable extensions to Posix.

** AH_HEADER
  New macro which is defined to the name of the first declared config header
  or undefined if no config headers have been declared yet.

** AS_HELP_STRING
  The macro correctly handles quadrigraphs now.

** AS_BOURNE_COMPATIBLE, AS_SHELL_SANITIZE, AS_CASE
  These macros are new or published now.

** AT_COPYRIGHT
  New macro for copyright notices in testsuite files.

** ALLOCA, LIBOBJS, LTLIBOBJS
  Object names added to these variables are now prefixed with `${LIBOBJDIR}',
  as in `${LIBOBJDIR}alloca.o'.  LIBOBJDIR is meant to be defined from
  `Makefile.in' in case the object files lie in a different directory.
  The LIBOBJDIR feature is experimental.

** autoreconf
  Supports --no-recursive now.

** New macros to support Erlang/OTP.
  New macros for configuring paths to Erlang tools and libraries:
  AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERLC, AC_ERLANG_PATH_ERL,
  AC_ERLANG_NEED_ERL, AC_ERLANG_CHECK_LIB, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_ROOT_DIR,
  AC_ERLANG_SUBST_LIB_DIR.

  New macros for configuring installation of Erlang libraries:
  AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_DIR, AC_ERLANG_SUBST_INSTALL_LIB_SUBDIR.

** The manual now mentions Gnulib more prominently.

** New macros to support Objective C.
  AC_PROG_OBJC, AC_PROG_OBJCPP.


Here's a link to show the ChangeLog entries since 2.59b:
http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/autoconf/autoconf/ChangeLog.diff?r1=1.2401&r2=1.2833&diff_format=u