Releasing autoconf 2.69?

[Stefano Lattarini]

Hello autoconfers.

What would you think about the suggestion of rolling out a new autoconf
release in the next week or so?  I'd like to see this happen for at
least the following reasons:

* Automake's own configure.ac (in master) needs the commit bd962acf
  "fortran: define $GFC to "yes" if $FC is a GNU compiler" in order
  to work 100% as expected, and since I'm planning to release
  Automake 1.12 in a couple of weeks or so, I'd like to see that
  change in a released Autoconf version, so that I won't be forced
  to require a development version of Autoconf as a bootstrap
  prerequisite;

* The manual has been enhanced by documenting many new portability
  pitfalls (e.g., signal handling in shells, more make VPATH rewrite
  issues, more BSD parallel make incompatibilities, the Korn Shell
  cloexec behaviour, etc.), and it's a pity to see all these changes
  remain confined in the git repository instead of being "shared with
  the world";

* To check whether my change b5832028 "configure: will re-execute with
  $CONFIG_SHELL, if it's set" truly works in the wild, or whether we
  will have to revert it (in which case, the sooner the better, or at
  least the less painful).

WDYT?

Regards,
  Stefano