Autotools GSoC ideas

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello,

I'll throw a couple of suggestions for Autotools out there:

1) Interfacing with the Test Anything Protocol (TAP) (or maybe another
test protocol?).  Automake-generated Makefiles could be consumers of the
protocol for third-party testsuites.  Automake-generated simple
testsuites (TESTS) and Autoconf-generated Autotest testsuites could be
producers.

This project would entail both investigating the possible advantages
of either step, prototyping an implementation, and getting it ready
to merge into the code.  Each step on its own would already be useful
on its own, and small enough to be completed within the given time
frame.

2) Automake can (optionally) exploit more features of GNU make,
with an eventual goal of reimplementing some of the functionality
in GNU make, both for efficiency and for more ease of use.  When
a project using Automake requires GNU make anyway, it would be nice
if Automake could play along better with GNU make-specific notation
in the Automake special variables (like foo_SOURCES etc).

I have some preliminary patches to get this started, which could act
as a good starting point for further developments.


There are certainly more projects I could think of ...

Thanks,
Ralf