Re: Spaces in the checks with ac_unique_file break the program

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Paul, 

Couple of comments: 

Paul Eggert writes:
> --- lib/autoconf/general.m4     22 Jun 2005 09:10:50 -0000      1.866
> +++ lib/autoconf/general.m4     23 Jun 2005 20:03:13 -0000
> @@ -468,13 +468,14 @@ ac_pwd=`pwd` && test -n "$ac_pwd" ||
>  
>  ac_pat="[[\$][{][_$as_cr_Letters][_$as_cr_alnum]*[}]]"
>  
> -for ac_dir in "$ac_pwd" "$srcdir" \
> -  "$bindir" "$sbindir" "$libexecdir" "$datarootdir" "$datadir" \
> -  "$sysconfdir" "$sharedstatedir" "$localstatedir" "$includedir" \
> -  "$oldincludedir" "$docdir" "$infodir" "$htmldir" "$dvidir" "$pdfdir" \
> -  "$psdir" "$libdir" "$localedir" "$mandir"
> +for ac_var in ac_pwd srcdir \
> +  bindir sbindir libexecdir datarootdir datadir \
> +  sysconfdir sharedstatedir localstatedir includedir \
> +  oldincludedir docdir infodir htmldir dvidir pdfdir \
> +  psdir libdir localedir mandir
>  do
>    # Remove references to shell or make variables.
> +  eval ac_dir=\$$ac_var
>    ac_dirx=$ac_dir
>    while :
>    do
> @@ -494,7 +495,7 @@ do
>  '* | *'        '* | *' '* | *\"* | *\#* | *\$* | *\&* | *\'* | *\(* | *\)* | \
>    *\** | *\;* | *\<* | *\=* | *\>* | *\?* | *\@<:@* | *\\* | *\`* | \
>    *\|* | \~*)
> -    AC_MSG_WARN([Directory name `$ac_dir' contains special characters]);;
> +    AC_MSG_ERROR([$ac_var directory name `$ac_dir' has special characters]);;

AFAICS, this will break on Tru64, as noted in 'Limitations of Builtins'.
I'd suggest just leaving the warning. 

>    esac
>  done
>  m4_divert_pop([PARSE_ARGS])dnl
> @@ -509,24 +510,25 @@ m4_define([_AC_INIT_SRCDIR],
>  # Find the source files, if location was not specified.
>  if test -z "$srcdir"; then
>    ac_srcdir_defaulted=yes
> -  # Try the directory containing this script, then its parent.
> +  # Try the directory containing this script, then the parent directory.
>    ac_confdir=`AS_DIRNAME(["$[0]"])`
>    srcdir=$ac_confdir
> -  if test ! -r $srcdir/$ac_unique_file; then
> +  if test ! -r "$srcdir/$ac_unique_file"; then
>      srcdir=..
>    fi
>  else
>    ac_srcdir_defaulted=no
>  fi
> -if test ! -r $srcdir/$ac_unique_file; then
> +if test ! -r "$srcdir/$ac_unique_file"; then
>    test "$ac_srcdir_defaulted" = yes && srcdir="$ac_confdir or .."
>    AC_MSG_ERROR([cannot find sources ($ac_unique_file) in $srcdir])
>  fi
> -(cd $srcdir && test -r ./$ac_unique_file) 2>/dev/null ||
> +(cd $srcdir && test -r "./$ac_unique_file") 2>/dev/null ||
>    AC_MSG_ERROR([sources are in $srcdir, but `cd $srcdir' does not work])
> +dnl Remove unnecessary trailing slashes from srcdir.
>  dnl Double slashes in file names in object file debugging info
>  dnl mess up M-x gdb in Emacs.
> -srcdir=`echo "$srcdir" | sed 's%\([[^\\/]]\)[[\\/]]*$%\1%'`
> +srcdir=`echo "$srcdir" | sed 's%\([[^/]]\)/*$%\1%'`

Why do you think $srcdir cannot contain backslashes here?
I would not be so sure. 

>  m4_divert_pop([PARSE_ARGS])dnl
>  ])# _AC_INIT_SRCDIR
>  
*snip rest* 

Regards,
Ralf