Re: Installing from Git repository failed and problems with documentation formats

[Laurence Finston]

I thought to try `libtoolize' first and that eliminated the Automake errors 
regarding the Autoconf macros.
However, the missing file errors remained:

configure.ac:52: error: required file './config.rpath' not found
configure.ac:159: error: required file 'intl/Makefile.in' not found
configure.ac:52: error: required file './ABOUT-NLS' not found

There's no explanation of building the package from scratch with the build 
tools Libtool, Autoconf, etc., in INSTALL or
elsewhere in the top directory.

Laurence

> Gesendet: Dienstag, 05. April 2022 um 07:26 Uhr
> Von: "Laurence Finston" <Laurence.Finston@gmx.de>
> An: bug-mdk@gnu.org
> Betreff: Installing from Git repository failed and problems with 
> documentation formats
>
> Hello,
>
> I was able to install mdk 1.3.0 from the tarball.  I was not able to install 
> MDK from the current version in the Git repository.  This is the protocol:
>
> $ git clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/mdk.git
>
> $ cd mdk/
>
> $ aclocal
>
> $ autoconf
>
> $ autoheader
>
> Successful up to here.
>
> $ automake --add-missing --copy
>
> configure.ac:52: warning: AC_COMPILE_IFELSE was called before 
> AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
> configure.ac:52: warning: AC_RUN_IFELSE was called before 
> AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS
> configure.ac:52: error: required file './config.rpath' not found
> configure.ac:159: error: required file 'intl/Makefile.in' not found
> configure.ac:52: error: required file './ABOUT-NLS' not found
>
> The only file in [...]/mdk/intl is `.gitignore' (i.e., no `Makefile.am').
>
> I wanted to generate the manual in PDF format.  Using the dist. from the 
> tarball, I got this error:
>
> $ make gendocs
> (cd ../doc && \
>          ./gendocs.sh --email bug-mdk@gnu.org mdk 'GNU MDK Users Manual')
> /bin/bash: line 1: ./gendocs.sh: No such file or directory
> make: *** [Makefile:989: gendocs] Error 127
>
> Using the installation from the Git repository, I was able to generate 
> `gendocs' but then I got this error:
>
> $ gendocs
> ./gendocs: cannot find .texinfo or .texi or .txi for  in 
> /home/laurence/mdk_local/git_repos/mdk/doc.
>
> I just used `texi2dvi mdk.tex' and `dvipdfmx mdk.dvi' to generate the PDF 
> file.  The following aren't bugs, but I then had to print to a file to get it 
> into DIN A4 format and had to look for the page numbers to eliminate the 
> blank page at the end and the COPYING section.  Obviously, the COPYING 
> section is needed but I think it would be a convenience to indicate how to 
> eliminate it for printing purposes.  I don't do this yet for my manuals, but 
> I plan to.
>
> I do think it's important, however, to provide documentation in PDF format 
> from the point of view of accessibility for people who, like me, have 
> problems reading on computer screens.  If you don't want to do that, it would 
> be nice if you would consider at least providing rules for this in 
> `[...]/doc/Makefile.am', because not everybody knows how to use Texinfo.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Laurence Finston