>>>>> "Peter" == Peter Simons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
>>>>> Akim Demaille writes:
>> I'm sorry, but your argument makes no sense to me. I suppose it
>> also means I should not use the pattern /* in sh because it might
>> be a C comment? Or the converse?
Peter> The difference is that when I write "dnl some text" in an m4
Peter> file, it is ignored as a comment no matter in which context I
Peter> use it. (Arguably you can shoot yourself in the foot with "dnl"
Peter> when your doing highly sophisticated m4 magic, but hardly
Peter> anybody ever does that.) This is not true for "# some text" --
Peter> that will break in a C language context. That's why I prefer
Peter> "dnl".
Show me a place where you'd use dnl or # in a C context.
Peter> True, using "dnl", the comments won't make it into the
Peter> generated configure script, but my guess is that hardly any
Peter> user ever really looks into the shell scripts. As long as the
Peter> comments are contained in the m4 source, this seems to suffice.
Do you strip your executables?
Peter> I am more than happy to support _both_ forms, but I don't like
Peter> the idea of enforcing "#". If you guys say that this is the way
Peter> autoconf macros meant to be written and the internal macros use
Peter> "#" over "dnl" per convention, I will follow the guidelines --
Peter> no doubt. All I want is to clarify my point that "dnl" is not
Peter> evil per se and should be supported in the macro archive.
No it's not evil, sorry if I gave this impression. It's just useless.
People have been complaining for year that there is too much M4isms in
Autoconf, and now you seem to be willing to use `dnl' anyway.
I'm just expressing coding styles, I am not coming to see over your
shoulder if you used dnl or unquoted.
But when people will show some dnl I will tell them to use # instead.
When a macro will try to make its way into Autoconf itself, I will ask
for `#'.
dnl is still useful: it documents M4 constructs.
# is useful: it document Autoconf issues.
You seem to advocate `one language, one comment sign'.
Well, the difference is clear: when you program in Autoconf, use `#'.
When you're writing a tough macro playing hard games with M4 your are
invited to dnl, definitely.
