Looks like Autoconf is changing again! Anything past 2.59 will break
most things in CVS.
-Blake
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This is an automatic notification regarding your Bug report
#368502: autoconf: breaks existing build systems that use ${datadir},
which was filed against the autoconf package.
It has been closed by Ben Pfaff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (reply to [EMAIL
PROTECTED]).
Their explanation is attached below. If this explanation is
unsatisfactory and you have not received a better one in a separate
message then please contact Ben Pfaff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (reply to [EMAIL
PROTECTED]) by replying
to this email.
Debian bug tracking system administrator
(administrator, Debian Bugs database)
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As Ralf points out, the following code in the configure.in in
question does not follow the guidelines in the Autoconf
documentation.
| dnl Set PACKAGE_DATA_DIR in config.h.
| if test "x${datadir}" = 'x${prefix}/share'; then
| if test "x${prefix}" = "xNONE"; then
| AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(PACKAGE_DATA_DIR,
"${ac_default_prefix}/share/${PACKAGE}", [Shared Data Directory] )
| else
| AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(PACKAGE_DATA_DIR, "${prefix}/share/${PACKAGE}",
[Shared Data Directory])
| fi
| else
| AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED(PACKAGE_DATA_DIR, "${datadir}/${PACKAGE}", [Shared Data
Directory])
| fi
Here is the particular recommendation from the documentation that
this violates. Because this is a bug in configure.in, not in
Autoconf, I am closing this bug.
How Do I `#define' Installation Directories?
============================================
My program needs library files, installed in `datadir' and
similar. If I use
AC_DEFINE_UNQUOTED([DATADIR], [$datadir],
[Define to the read-only architecture-independent
data directory.])
I get
#define DATADIR "${prefix}/share"
As already explained, this behavior is on purpose, mandated by the GNU
Coding Standards, see *Note Installation Directory Variables::. There
are several means to achieve a similar goal:
- Do not use `AC_DEFINE' but use your `Makefile' to pass the actual
value of `datadir' via compilation flags, see *Note Installation
Directory Variables::, for the details.
- This solution can be simplified when compiling a program: you may
either extend the `CPPFLAGS':
CPPFLAGS = -DDATADIR=\"$(datadir)\" @CPPFLAGS@
or create a dedicated header file:
DISTCLEANFILES = datadir.h
datadir.h: Makefile
echo '#define DATADIR "$(datadir)"' >$@
- Use `AC_DEFINE' but have `configure' compute the literal value of
`datadir' and others. Many people have wrapped macros to automate
this task. For instance, the macro `AC_DEFINE_DIR' from the
Autoconf Macro Archive(1).
This solution does not conform to the GNU Coding Standards.
- Note that all the previous solutions hard wire the absolute path to
these directories in the executables, which is not a good
property. You may try to compute the paths relatively to
`prefix', and try to find `prefix' at runtime, this way your
package is relocatable. Some macros are already available to
address this issue: see `adl_COMPUTE_RELATIVE_PATHS' and
`adl_COMPUTE_STANDARD_RELATIVE_PATHS' on the Autoconf Macro
Archive(2).
---------- Footnotes ----------
(1) Autoconf Macro Archive,
<http://www.gnu.org/software/ac-archive/>.
(2) Autoconf Macro Archive,
<http://www.gnu.org/software/ac-archive/>.
--
"In this world that Hugh Heffner had made,
he alone seemed forever bunnyless."
--John D. MacDonald
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