Re: new module 'libtool'?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Bruno, Sam,

* Bruno Haible wrote on Wed, Jan 16, 2008 at 12:43:12PM CET:
> 
> Sam Steingold suggests to create a new gnulib module that would contain the
> files
>    m4/libtool.m4
>    build-aux/ltmain.sh
> 
> As with the gettext macros, it is expected that these files get updated in
> gnulib after every libtool release (or possibly more frequently, at the
> discretion of the libtool maintainers).

I would not like to go that way at this point.  I remember that you
asked for unification of gettextize, libtoolize, and gnulib-tool before,
but there is quite some ways to go before that can be made to happen.

For one, Libtool 2.2 will contain more macro files than just libtool.m4.
And it will also contain a version check that ensures that ltmain.sh
matches the macro files used.

>    problem. (Use of libtoolize would also avoid the problem. But when
>    gnulib-tool is used anyway, it's easier to include libtool in the list
>    of modules, than to add an invocation of libtoolize.)

Sorry, but that's just a red herring.  Write a script, let's call it
bootstrap or autogen.sh, that does what's the right thing for your
script.  Whether this script contains one call go gnulib-tool or another
one for libtoolize is really not the point.

However: there already is real confusion about both gettextize/autopoint
*and* gnulib-tool providing some common files, both of which claim to be
the superior source.  *That* is a problem.  And putting Libtool files in
gnulib-tool would make this issue more, not less complex.

Cheers,
Ralf