debbugs, and a FAQ, for Autotools

[Ralf Wildenhues]

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Hello everyone,

I've been advertising debbugs before, I think we should be a good
example.  So, two proposals:

1) Autoconf and Libtool should also use debbugs.

bug-automake has switched a few months ago, and I find it helpful to
avoid losing reports.  Given that we never have enough time on our
hands, it becomes more important to not lose track.

See http://debbugs.gnu.org/ and linked pages for details.

2) Autotools should have a FAQ document.  Not of the sort of the FAQ
chapter that answers seven random questions and that has a 1 year+
latency until it is updated, but one that answers both totally-newbie
kinds of questions that get asked over and over again, or cross-tool
bug questions like the infamous libtool echo problem (which was due to
an incompatible m4sugar change).  A document that, ideally, eventually
obsoletes many of the third-party "here's how autotools work, in quick"
kinds of pages.

See e.g., this most recent thread which made the need so clear again:
http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.sysutils.automake.patches/5672


For (2) I'd suggest a wiki if we GNU the infrastructure, but something
like a new page http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/Autotools-FAQ.html
would certainly be good.  (And yes, I've been arguing against wikis in
the past.  I was wrong.  Sue me.)


Now, I have very little spare time on my hands.  Any volunteers on
managing such a document?  Any people interested in contributing answers
or even only questions?  I wouldn't mind handing out commit privs to any
of the regulars on these lists.

Thanks for feedback,
Ralf