Re: debbugs, and a FAQ, for Autotools

[Ralf Hemmecke]

I'm just reading the current FAQ under

1.3 Where can I get the latest versions of these tools?

http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/faq/autotools-faq.html#Where-can-I-get-the-latest-versions-of-these-tools_003f

Wouldn't it be useful to give a little script that installs know-good 
combinations (the latest version?) of all the autotools components in 
the users (developers) HOME?

You probably can do

https://github.com/hemmecke/flint2/blob/autotools/autotools.mk

better than me, but it might be a first start.

I suggest this, because I heard several rumours that autotools are a 
nightmare and developers might have different versions of them installed 
thus leading to weird behaviour. I just think that providing such a 
script would contribute to the acceptance of autotools outside the GNU 
world.

That Linux distributions usually come with a good set of autotools is 
irrelevant, since in my understanding all developers of *one* project 
should work with the *same* autotools versions. Of course, the project 
might also compile otherwise on different systems, but using the same 
version of autotools everywhere reduces (needless) incompatibility 
issues between developers and increases acceptance of autotools. No?

Ralf