Problem with AC_CONFIG_FILES targets that contain variables

[Sander Niemeijer]

Hi,

I found the following problem with autoconf version 2.62.

When taking the minimal example with a configure.ac:
----
AC_INIT(foo, 1.0)
AC_CONFIG_FILES([foo-$PACKAGE_VERSION:foo.in])
AC_OUTPUT
----

and a file foo.in containing e.g.:
----
@PACKAGE_VERSION@
----

When running configure it correctly creates the file 'foo-1.0'.

However when I then try to run config.status for the file I get:
----
$ config.status foo-1.0
config.status: error: invalid argument: foo-1.0
----

The problem is that inside config.status there is the line:
----
    "foo-$PACKAGE_VERSION") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES foo- 
$PACKAGE_VERSION:foo.in" ;;
----
but PACKAGE_VERSION is not defined inside config.status.

It appears that in another place inside config.status there is mention  
of the exact string 'foo-1.0', e.g.:
----
# Files that config.status was made for.
config_files=" foo-1.0:foo.in"
----

This makes me think that it must be possible to change autoconf such  
that it replaces the line with $PACKAGE_VERSION to a version that has  
evaluated versions of variables:
----
    "foo-1.0") CONFIG_FILES="$CONFIG_FILES foo-1.0:foo.in" ;;
----

Is this something that can be implemented for a next version?

Right now it gives me problems when also using automake and I change  
foo.in. The dependency relation then tries to regenerate foo-1.0 by  
running 'config.status foo-1.0', but, as explained, this fails.

Best regards,
Sander Niemeijer