Re: autoconf-2.62: `make install' fails if file system is case insensitive

[Stepan Kasal]

Hello Eric,

> [adding bug-automake and bug-make; ...]

I sent a separate followup there.

This mail goes again to bug-autconf only, as it discusses possible
workaround with current make implementation.

Regarding the patch attached to
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-autoconf/2008-05/msg00000.html

I hed asuspicion as soon as I saw it, but since I was not able to
express my feelings exactly, I decided to work on it more ... and
basically I put it off.  Now my ideas finally got a shape.

I was also thinking about "make dist", but I concentrated on good old
case-sensitive case.
As you mentioned, with --gnu strictness in Automake, INSTALL gets
listed in DIST_COMMON, which is a pre-requisite of distdir target.

Since "INSTALL" is equal to "./INSTALL", this implies that the file
is (re)built before each "make dist".

When "make dist*" is issued in a VPATH build, the $(srcdir)/INSTALL
file is found because of the VPATH mechanism, and then the rule for
$(srcdir)/INSTALL is used to ensure that the file is up-to-date.

When we introduced the $(abs_srcdir)/INSTALL hack, we lost the above
benefits.

Consequently, I'd like to propose an alternate solution:
  if configure detects case-insensitive make, the rule for
  $(srcdir)/INSTALL would be disabled.
That should not be a problem, as case insensitive platforms are
rarely used to create the distribution tarball of Autoconf.

Attached please find a patch.

The main advantage of this patch is that it is conservative:
- in the common situation, things work exactly as before
- the extra code is hidden in one macro, so the code is not made less
  readable

OK to commit?

Stepan Kasal

0001-Check-for-case-sensitive-make.patch
Description: Text document