AC_PROG_CC_C_O

[Stepan Kasal]

Hi,
  a bug report pointed me to AC_PROG_CC_C_O.

The macro has two uses:
1) in GNU make's configure.in
2) in Automake's AM_PROG_CC_C_O

ad 1)  Special needs of a project should be solved in that project.

ad 2)  The comments in automake/m4/minuso.m4 explain why Automake is not
happy with the interface.  And I think AM_PROG_CC_C_O should rather
check only $CC, and not "cc".

So:
No one is happy with the current macro.  I think it should be deprecated.
(The same with AC_PROG_FC_C_O and AC_PROG_F77_C_O which are not used at all.)

AM_PROG_CC_C_O needs to test whether $CC -c -o works, but the interface
should change.

And does Automake have any plans for testing Fortran's -c -o?

If yes, shouldn't we introduce a generalized macro, for example

        AC_LANG_COMPILER_C_O([IF-WORKS], [IF-DOESNT])

which would test the compiler of the current language?

Looking forward for any feedback,
        Stepan