Re: configure.ac

[Pavel Roskin]

Hello, Akim!

> Would someone see a problem if I adjust Autoconf to support
> configure.ac in addition to configure.in?  I think `.in' was a very
> bad name (which in addition introduces an undesirable confusion
> between autoconf instantiation and config.status instantiation).

If you want to move *.ac maybe it's time to make one more step?

I think that configure.ac should use the new macro names, such as m4_if
and m4_divert.

We could also put extra limitations on what is considered a valid
configure.ac script.

We may require every configure.ac to list a version of Autoconf it was
written for (it's not the same as the minimally required version). Some
warnings in configure.in may become errors in configure.ac.

Another crazy idea (in 2:30am, so it's the best time for crazy ideas).
How about writing configure.ac in XML:

<!DOCTYPE autoconf PUBLIC "-//GNU//Autoconf 3.01 Transitional//EN"
   "http://www.gnu.org/autoconf/autoconf-3.01-transitional.dtd";>
<AC_INIT PACKAGE="Autoconf" VERSION="3.01">
<AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR FILE="acgeneral.m4">
<AC_PROG_AWK>
<AC_CACHE_CHECK>
  <MESSAGE>whether m4 supports frozen files</MESSAGE>
  <CODE>
    ac_cv_prog_gnu_m4=no
    if test x"$M4" != x; then
      case `$M4 --help &lt; /dev/null 2>&1` in
        *reload-state*) ac_cv_prog_gnu_m4=yes ;;
      esac
    fi
  </CODE>
</AC_CACHE_CHECK>
<AC_CONFIG FILES>
  <ITEM NAME="Makefile">
  <ITEM NAME="m4/Makefile" TEMPLATE="m4/Makefile-in">
  <ITEM NAME="tests/Makefile" REQUIRED="no">
</AC_CONFIG FILES>
<AC_OUTPUT>

Well, enough for today :-)

Regards,
Pavel Roskin