Re: Problem using AC_CANONICAL_BUILD

[Nick Bowler]

On 2012-04-13 13:40 -0600, Eric Blake wrote:
> On 04/13/2012 01:31 PM, Dawood Tariq wrote:
> > Hello all,
> > 
> > I'm using autoconf 2.68 on Darwin kernel version 10.8.0. I want to use
> > the AX_PROG_JAVAH macro to determine the location of the jni.h header
> > file and set the CPPFLAGS accordingly. This macro uses the $build_os
> > variable which is generated by the AC_CANONICAL_BUILD macro. If I don't
> > use the AX_PROG_JAVAH and AC_CANONICAL_BUILD macros, my configure script
> > works fine. But if I invoke either of them, I get the following error:
> > 
> > configure: error: cannot find install-sh, install.sh, or shtool in "."
> > "./.." "./../.."
> > 
> > Why am I getting this message and how can I get around it?
> 
> Probably because you didn't properly populate your AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR
> directory.  I'm guessing you aren't using automake (since automake will
> automatically place a copy of install-sh into your CONFIG_AUX_DIR)?  If
> so, the solution is to manually place a version of install-sh alongside
> your copies of config.guess and config.sub, all in the directory you
> passed to AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR (or, if you aren't using AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR,
> into your top-level directory, although I do recommend using
> AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR).  The version of install-sh shipped with autoconf
> 2.68 is adequate for the purpose.

Nevertheless, it's surprising (to me) that AC_CANONICAL_BUILD would
require install-sh.  I can reproduce the error with the following
configure.ac:

  AC_INIT([test], [1.0])
  AC_CANONICAL_BUILD
  AC_OUTPUT

The autoconf manual documents the install-sh requirement if you call
AC_PROG_INSTALL, but the above does not call AC_PROG_INSTALL, nor does
it appear in the output of "autoconf -t AC_PROG_INSTALL".

Moreover, after copying install-sh/config.guess/config.sub, the
generated configure script doesn't even test for a working install, nor
does it reference install-sh in any capacity other than to bail out if
it's not present.

> https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/autoconf.html#Canonicalizing

This section of the manual only says you need to copy config.guess and
config.sub.  The requirement for install-sh is not mentioned.

Cheers,
-- 
Nick Bowler, Elliptic Technologies (http://www.elliptictech.com/)