Bug 451744 – [TRACKER] Packages failing to build (or still using AM_CONFIG_HEADER, AM_PROG_CC_STDC) with automake 1.13

• Status: CONFIRMED
• Product: Gentoo Linux

[Description Diego Elio Pettenò (RETIRED) 2013-01-13 14:33:49 UTC]

As usual, create new bugs blocking against this rather than commenting on the tracker itself.

[Comment 1 Gilles Dartiguelongue (RETIRED) 2013-04-24 08:45:50 UTC]

I have a question for the tracker though, what is the recommended fix for this problem ? Add autoconf patch or regen upstream packages with modern autotools ?

[Comment 2 Vamp898 2013-04-29 18:37:45 UTC]

As far as i seen, most of these bugs can be workarounded with an

sed -i 's/AM_CONFIG_HEADER/AC_CONFIG_HEADERS/g' configure.ac || die

in the src_prepare section

Is this a proper solution or rather an quick&dirty workaround?

[Comment 3 Lars Wendler (Polynomial-C) (RETIRED) 2013-05-06 12:39:57 UTC]

*** Bug 468754 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Comment 4 Peter Volkov (RETIRED) 2013-05-07 18:48:27 UTC]

(In reply to comment #2)

It is. But don't forget to create patch and send it upstream.

[Comment 5 Samuli Suominen (RETIRED) 2013-05-15 20:58:25 UTC]

In automake-1.13.2 the uses of of AM_CONFIG_HEADER and AM_PROG_CC_STDC and are warnings instead of errors again, due to people like eg. Fedora maintainers wanting it so
Anyways we should still convert the already opened bugs because they will eventually go away anway

[Comment 6 Tolga Dalman 2013-05-15 21:06:12 UTC]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Anyways we should still convert the already opened bugs because they will
> eventually go away anway

I agree. Also, I doubt that AM_CONFIG_HEADER and AM_PROG_CC_STDC will stay forever in future automake releases. So, keep up good work :)

[Comment 7 Pacho Ramos 2013-05-15 21:59:22 UTC]

(In reply to comment #2)
> sed -i 's/AM_CONFIG_HEADER/AC_CONFIG_HEADERS/g' configure.ac || die

Why isn't this change done at autotools.eclass level instead of needing to change it in lots of packages? (if it was only this change, ok, but this will probably be needed again and again in the future when automake will require other to be renamed)

[Comment 8 Jason Mours 2013-05-16 01:21:30 UTC]

(In reply to comment #6)
> (In reply to comment #5)
> > Anyways we should still convert the already opened bugs because they will
> > eventually go away anway
> 
> I agree. Also, I doubt that AM_CONFIG_HEADER and AM_PROG_CC_STDC will stay
> forever in future automake releases. So, keep up good work :)

I agree, I'm masking 1.13.2 for now. All this work is good code. Thanks

[Comment 9 Jeroen Roovers (RETIRED) 2013-08-29 14:23:37 UTC]

*** Bug 482924 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

[Comment 10 Anthony Basile 2013-09-25 10:57:45 UTC]

(In reply to Pacho Ramos from comment #7)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> > sed -i 's/AM_CONFIG_HEADER/AC_CONFIG_HEADERS/g' configure.ac || die
> 
> Why isn't this change done at autotools.eclass level instead of needing to
> change it in lots of packages? (if it was only this change, ok, but this
> will probably be needed again and again in the future when automake will
> require other to be renamed)

We could, but then won't that shortcut producing patches and sending them upstream?  It might be worth alerting upstream maintainers to the change.

[Comment 11 Pacho Ramos 2013-09-25 17:24:52 UTC]

In most cases I think upstream is not being notified by us, for two causes:
1. Some failing packages have dead upstream and won't ever be fixed.
2. Those packages with active upstreams will be fixed in future new versions as this affects to all distributions