Re: autogen.sh warnings

[Colin Watson]

On Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 02:28:19PM -0600, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
> Colin Watson wrote:
>> On Mon, Dec 07, 2009 at 11:38:06AM -0600, Bruce Dubbs wrote:
>>> configure.ac:176: required file `./config.rpath' not found
>>>
>>> The can be fixed by `touch config.rpath`
>>
>> configure does actually run this, so I'd recommend copying the file from
>> gettext or gnulib instead.
>
> The gettext version is a shell script about 670 lines long that is  
> described:
>
> # Output a system dependent set of variables, describing how to set the
> # run time search path of shared libraries in an executable.
>
> I'm not sure GRUB uses or needs the output of config.rpath.  I was just  
> suppressing a warning.

It is very likely to be incorrect to suppress a warning about a missing
executable by touching an empty file.

As I said, configure does use the output of config.rpath. You can verify
this for yourself by searching the configure script. Whether it makes a
practical difference probably depends on the platform.

>> This is likely to be delicate since we're not actually using Automake as
>> such, and we already have a separate Makefile.in which needs to not be
>> overwritten. I think adding a Makefile.am would make it just too easy to
>> clobber that by accident, even if it does suppress a warning message.
>
> You are probably right.  It looks like Makefile.in is basically  
> destroyed.  Not good.  It looks like automake thinks it knows more than  
> it's users

Automake's warning is pretty much correct, as it happens. GRUB is really
using it in a non-recommended way, but it is not at all straightforward
to either avoid using it (since the gettext build system rather likes
having it) or to use it properly (which involves a complete build system
revamp).

> and we'll have to live with the warning about missing  
> SUBDIRS.  I think I could print out a message to ignore the spurious  
> warning.
>
> Do you want a new patch?

Seems reasonable, yes.

-- 
Colin Watson                                       address@hidden