Re: Automake 1.8.3 doesn't build?

[Eric Sunshine]

On Sun, 18 Apr 2004 13:08:54 -0500 (CDT), Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Sun, 18 Apr 2004, Eric Sunshine wrote:
> > Can you apply the following manual edit to the configure script
> > (not the configure.ac file) and report if it fixes the problem?
> > In configure, find the line:
> > as_candidate_shells="$SHELL"
> > Change it to:
> > as_candidate_shells=""
> > If that resolves the problem, I will submit an appropriate patch for
> > Autoconf.
> This change resolves the problem.

I can submit a patch to autoconf-patches to make Autoconf's shell selection  
more backward-compatible with earlier versions of Autoconf, however this  
raises another issue. My interpretation of this thread is that Autoconf's new  
shell selection behavior is exposing a latent problem with Automake;  
specifically, Automake-generated makefiles do not deal with zsh in a robust  
fashion. Even after patching Autoconf, it will still be possible for zsh to  
be the chosen shell (it just won't be as likely), so this same problem can  
continue to affect Automake. Furthermore, it does not really seem like  
Autoconf's responsibility to work around a shortcoming in Automake. After  
all, Autoconf has long considered zsh an acceptable shell (otherwise, those  
zsh work-arounds would not be present in Autoconf), so one might expect  
Automake to also consider zsh a usable shell (by employing the same zsh goop,  
for instance).

-- ES