Install Autoconf's .m4f files into /var?

[Ben Pfaff]

I received this suggestion for the Autoconf package in the Debian
bug tracking system.  I don't feel confident enough that I
understand the implications of the suggestion to just do it on my
own, so I thought I'd pass the idea along to the experts here, to
see if it makes sense to you guys to install Autoconf in this
way.  What do you think?

-------------------- Start of forwarded message --------------------
From: Romain Lenglet <address@hidden>
To: Debian Bug Tracking System <address@hidden>
Message-ID: <address@hidden>

Package: autoconf
Version: 2.60a-4
Severity: wishlist


*.m4f files are automatically generated from Autoconf's .m4 files. For
instance, /usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.m4f is (re-)generated
by executing:
(cd /usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/ ; autom4te --language=autoconf --freeze 
--output=autoconf.m4f)

Therefore, this file is a good candidate to be placed into
e.g. /var/lib/autoconf/autoconf/, as for the FHS. And a soft link
should be made:
ln -s /var/lib/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.m4f 
/usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.m4f

Idem for .../autotest/autotest.m4f, .../m4sugar/m4sh.m4f, and
..../m4sugar/m4sugar.m4f.



The motivation is to let Debian packages add m4 files directly into
Autoconf's directories, and rebuild the autotest.m4f file at postinst.
Adding M4 macros directly into Autoconf is mandatory when some macros
make aclocal crash. For instance, language-support macros must have
parenthesis in their names, which makes aclocal choke. For instance,
see macro AC_LANG_PROGRAM(C) in c.m4, or AC_LANG_PROGRAM(Erlang) in
erlang.m4. Such macros *must* be added directly into Autoconf, since
they cannot be parsed by aclocal due to bugs in aclocal.


In addition, I suggest to make addition+inclusion of M4 files easier,
by adding the following line at the end of
/usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.m4:
m4_include([/var/lib/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf-includes.m4])

And to let packages add&remove m4_include([...]) lines for the files
they install, in that new
/var/lib/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf-includes.m4 file. New files
installed by packages should be installed in
/usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/, so those m4_include lines should have
the form:
m4_include([/usr/share/autoconf/autoconf/....m4])

And idem for all /var/lib/autoconf/*/ directories.



This proposal would let packages install Autoconf support for new test
languages, without having to be directly included in the autoconf
package, and without having to modify the .m4f files in /usr/ at
postinst.
-------------------- End of forwarded message --------------------

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