Re: automake/autoreconf: Incomprehensible error messages bugs

[Bruce Korb]

On Tuesday 25 January 2005 01:37 am, Noah Misch wrote:
> On Sun, Jan 23, 2005 at 09:28:36AM -0800, Bruce Korb wrote:
> > > $ autoreconf
> > > autoreconf: configure.ac: AM_GNU_GETTEXT is used, but not 
> > > AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION
> 
> > 1.  The automake example of AM_GNU_GETTEXT does not show
> >      AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION being used in conjunction with it.
> >     In fact, it isn't even documented at all.
> 
> See the gettext documentation.  `autopoint' uses AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION (and
> fails without it), so `autoreconf' does not run `autopoint' if `configure.ac'
> does not call `AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION'.  This is not actually a fatal error;
> the message probably should begin ``autoreconf: warning: ...''.

Um, okay, but if automake is going to emit the message, then it only
makes sense (to me) that automake include the documentation.  Also,
if you're going to have a AM_GNU_GETTEXT example in the doc, wouldn't
it also make sense to have a correct example?  Which, of course, raises
the question of why the two are not combined, but probably after I locate
the gettext distribution, download it, build it, install it and read the doc,
I'd probably know the answer.  Uh, a bit heavy duty to just get an answer
to the question, don't you think?  ;-)

> > 2.  Surely the message, "cannot empty /tmp/ar0.4849: Is a directory"
> >      can be made more meaningful.  What _does_ it mean?
> >      (Besides being the error message "rm" will give you.  :)
> 
> The message is not meaningful because this Never Happens :)

Ah.  Good.  Then I didn't see it.  :)

> autoreconf tried to delete the contents of its temporary directory, and then 
> the
> directory itself.  The former failed silently, so the latter failed noisely.  
> I
> hit this once before with a broken Perl (Slackware 3.3, 5.004_03 IIRC) where
> Perl's globbing mysteriously returned an empty list every time.  You can try a
> simple `perl -e 'print <*>' in a nonempty directory; if it prints nothing, 
> that
> is your problem, too.  It certainly may be something entirely different, 
> though.
> 
> What type of system is this?  What version of Perl?

> $ uname -a
> Linux bach 2.6.5-7.97-default #1 Fri Jul 2 14:21:59 UTC 2004 i686 athlon i386 
> GNU/Linux
> $ cat /etc/[Ss]*release
> SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 9 (i586)
> VERSION = 9
> $ perl -e 'print <*>'
> ahAqZXRxam4t1e7x8Oam4tCpTneDam4tiZINdqam4tjiZAF1am4tu48Whq
> $ ls
> ahAqZXRx  am4t1e7x8O  am4tCpTneD  am4tiZINdq  am4tjiZAF1  am4tu48Whq
> $ perl --version
> 
> This is perl, v5.8.3 built for i586-linux-thread-multi
> 
> Copyright 1987-2003, Larry Wall

In chasing this down, I also noticed that my /tmp directory was packed full of
ah* am* cg* ar* directories left lying around.  Full of stuff, too.  Can I 
suppose
that if I can find the cause of this problem I won't see this ditrius either?

Thanks!! - Bruce