configure.in:212: error: m4_popdef: undefined macro: AC_Dest

[Dan Kegel]

I've been using autoconf 2.5x for some time. Today I suddenly got the
error 
  configure.in:212: error: m4_popdef: undefined macro: AC_Dest
when running autoconf.
Heh.  Got bit by the ol' you-can't-use-filenames-containing-dnl 
issue again!

The problem was triggered by adding a line to configure.in: 
  
AC_CONFIG_FILES(linux/scripts/wrap-dnl.sh, chmod +x linux/scripts/wrap-dnl.sh) 

as my project innocently decided to name DowNLoadable files dnl's.

The fix is to use quotes as follows:
AC_CONFIG_FILES(linux/scripts/wrap-d""nl.sh, chmod +x
linux/scripts/wrap-d""nl.sh)

Before I noticed this, I got all concerned and wrote the following,
presented here for your amusement.
- Dan
  
I'm using Debian testing.  I seem to have autoconf_2.52-4_all.deb.
autoconf2.50 --version reports
  autoconf (GNU Autoconf) 2.52

I don't see any reports of this problem in the debian bug tracker,
http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?pkg=autoconf

Google shows a few hits on this error message, e.g.
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-i18n/2001-August/msg00037.html
which all say something like

> yes, this is autoconf/automake problem, which happens in Debian unstable
> (are you running this?). It was caused by some 'dnl ...' lines inside
> the AC_OUTPUT macro ??. I fixed it the other day, but forgot to check it
> in, so please try again, since it's now in CVS.

I do see a couple dnl's in /usr/share/autoconf/acgeneral.m4 
but autoconf doesn't read that file; it only reads
/usr/share/autoconf/autoconf.m4f.  I suspect I need to run m4 in
some nefarious way to generate that freeze file if I want to try
fiddling with acgeneral.m4. 

Can anyone help a newbie here?  What's the fix?  Why did this
show up suddenly?
Should I grab the latest autoconf sources and forget about the Debian package?
Or is the problem mine for some reason?

Thanks,
Dan