Re: "configure --help=recursive" only works in top_srcdir

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Hans Ulrich,

* Hans Ulrich Niedermann wrote on Mon, Jun 25, 2007 at 06:20:53PM CEST:
> 
>    "configure --help=recursive" does not run the --help parts of the
>    directories included via AC_CONFIG_SUBDIR when called as
>        $ /path/to/top_srcdir/configure --help=recursive
>    or
>        $ ../configure --help=recursive

Thank you for the nice, concise and complete bug report!
Actually, this is an ugly bug.  It goes away if you do
  mkdir direct-sub

in the current working directory.  Consequently it is not visible once
you are in a configured build tree.

The reason configure does not enter the source tree is that the source
tree may live on read-only media, and the sub-configure needs to be able
to write to the CWD before it gets to help output (for example to find
out $PATH_SEPARATOR).  OTOH having
  configure --help=recursive

create the build subtree (1) (and document that) seems like an ugly
solution, too.

The next best thing I could come up with would be to use the same build
directory for each of the sub configure scripts (2).  But there is a
failure scenario for that:  Say, the shell does not support $LINENO
properly.  In that case, we create and execute "configure.lineno" in the
current directory.  The sub configure script will try to overwrite the
same script.  As the toplevel script is still in use by the parent
shell, it won't be overwritable on, say, some NFS volume.

My next idea was: --help=recursive creates a build tree if necessary
(3).  It remembers whether it had to create the tree, and if so, tries
to clean up after itself.  Implementation-wise, however, this is a mess
(What if, with AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS([deep/sub/dir]), deep/sub exists but
not deep/sub/dir, should we remember to only remove the last
component?).

Lastly (4), we could just document the current situation.  The prospects
of having to run configure just to find out about all of its options are
bleak, though.

I'd vote for (1).  The proposed patch below implements that.  What's the
general opinion about this?

Cheers,
Ralf

2007-07-01  Ralf Wildenhues  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (_AC_INIT_HELP): Create the toplevel
        build directory for each sub configure invoked with
        --help=recursive, so help output works even in unconfigured
        trees.
        * tests/torture.at (Configuring subdirectories): Expose it.
        * NEWS: Update.
        Report by Hans Ulrich Niedermann <address@hidden>.

Index: NEWS
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/autoconf/autoconf/NEWS,v
retrieving revision 1.430
diff -u -r1.430 NEWS
--- NEWS        21 May 2007 17:50:57 -0000      1.430
+++ NEWS        1 Jul 2007 07:22:42 -0000
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 * Major changes in Autoconf 2.61b (????-??-??)
 
+** `configure --help=recursive' now creates those parts of the build
+   tree necessary for obtaining sub configure help.
+
 ** New macro AC_OPENMP.
 
 ** AC_C_BIGENDIAN now supports universal binaries a la Mac OS X.
Index: lib/autoconf/general.m4
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/autoconf/autoconf/lib/autoconf/general.m4,v
retrieving revision 1.950
diff -u -r1.950 general.m4
--- lib/autoconf/general.m4     12 Jun 2007 11:36:57 -0000      1.950
+++ lib/autoconf/general.m4     1 Jul 2007 07:20:43 -0000
@@ -1001,6 +1001,7 @@
   -h, --help              display this help and exit
       --help=short        display options specific to this package
       --help=recursive    display the short help of all the included packages
+                          and create the associated build tree
   -V, --version           display version information and exit
   -q, --quiet, --silent   do not print \`checking...' messages
       --cache-file=FILE   cache test results in FILE [disabled]
@@ -1088,7 +1089,8 @@
 if test "$ac_init_help" = "recursive"; then
   # If there are subdirs, report their specific --help.
   for ac_dir in : $ac_subdirs_all; do test "x$ac_dir" = x: && continue
-    test -d "$ac_dir" || continue
+    test -d "$srcdir/$ac_dir" || continue
+    AS_MKDIR_P(["$ac_dir"])
     _AC_SRCDIRS(["$ac_dir"])
     cd "$ac_dir" || { ac_status=$?; continue; }
     # Check for guested configure.
Index: tests/torture.at
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvsroot/autoconf/autoconf/tests/torture.at,v
retrieving revision 1.82
diff -u -r1.82 torture.at
--- tests/torture.at    12 Jun 2007 11:36:57 -0000      1.82
+++ tests/torture.at    1 Jul 2007 07:20:43 -0000
@@ -979,6 +979,11 @@
 
 # The same, but from a builddir.
 AS_MKDIR_P([builddir])
+# recursive help will create parts of the build tree:
+AT_CHECK([cd builddir && ../configure --help=recursive | grep INNER], 0, 
[ignore])
+( cd builddir && rm -r inner )
+AT_CHECK([cd builddir && `pwd`/../configure --help=recursive | grep INNER], 0, 
[ignore])
+( cd builddir && rm -r inner )
 AT_CHECK([cd builddir && ../configure], 0, [ignore])
 AT_CHECK([cat builddir/inner/innermost/config], 0,
 [INNER=inner