Autoconf 2.54c is relased

[Akim Demaille]

The Autoconf team -- Akim, Alexandre, Jim, Paul, and Tom -- is happy
to annonce the second beta of forthcoming Autoconf 2.55.  Download,
compile, install, torture, and enjoy!


  - Why should I upgrade from 2.54?

A few bug fixes, improved portability, no known incompatibility with
2.54 and 2.55, forthcoming Gettext release might require 2.55.

Running `autoreconf -fv' should be enough.


   - Why should I upgrade from 2.13?

This version is no longer maintained.  It does not address recent
architectures, recent compilers etc.  We know that upgrading from 2.13
to 2.5x is not an easy task, especially because the Autoconf 2.13 was
extremely tolerant to incorrect macro invocations, but waiting longer
endangers the portability of your package and only delays the
conversation to newer Autoconf versions.  Worse: some maintainers now
spend a significant amount of time fixing bugs in 2.13 or backporting
macros from 2.55.


   - Where can I find it?

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.54c.tar.gz   (1.1 MB)
  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.54c.tar.bz2  (792 KB)

And here are xdelta-style diffs

  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.54b-2.54c.xdelta   (17 KB)

Here are the MD5 and SHA1 signatures:

ab431fb26babf82de8fda486afb94350  autoconf-2.54c.tar.gz
db32dbbcd1bf2f8ca7713faa58bc905e  autoconf-2.54c.tar.bz2
39bdbfc39b0581bda303e3b42a550714  autoconf-2.54b-2.54c.xdelta
807d67c59445ddac573dd8c9a42ac668b83020f0  autoconf-2.54c.tar.gz
9968922141aaf313ed145fe19d27669fd5f89189  autoconf-2.54c.tar.bz2
dd01917057f9f456e96259734ebc56a2b22f11ef  autoconf-2.54b-2.54c.xdelta

NEWS:

Release tips:

           Have your configure.ac checked by autoscan ("autoscan").
           Try the warning options ("autoreconf -fv -Wall").

** Documentation

- AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS
  More information on proper use.

- Writing Test Programs

  This sections explains how to write good test sources to use with
  AC_COMPILE_IFELSE etc.  It documents AC_LANG_PROGRAMS and so forth.

- AC_FOO_IFELSE vs. AC_TRY_FOO

  Explains why Autoconf moves from AC_TRY_COMPILE etc. to
  AC_COMPILE_IFELSE and AC_LANG_PROGRAM etc.

** autoreconf

- Is more robust to different Gettext installations.

- Produces messages (when --verbose) to be understood by Emacs'
  compile mode.

- Supports -W/--warnings.

- -m/--make
  Once the GNU Build System reinstalled, run `./config.status
  --recheck && ./config.status && make' if possible.

** autom4te

- Supports --cache, and --no-cache.

- ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism
  (autom4te.cache).  See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation.

** Obsolete options

  Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is
  dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme.

** Macros

- New macros
  AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL,
  AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, AC_LANG_CALL,
  AC_LANG_FUNC_TRY_LINK, AC_MSG_FAILURE, AC_PREPROC_IFELSE.

- Obsoleted
  Obsoleted macros are kept for Autoconf backward compatibility, but
  should be avoided in configure.ac.  Running autoupdate is advised.
  AC_DECL_SYS_SIGLIST.

** Bug Fixes

- Portability of the Autoconf package to Solaris.

- Spurious warnings caused by config.status.
  This bug is benign, but painful: on some systems (typically
  FreeBSD), warnings such as:

     config.status: creating Makefile
     mv: Makefile: set owner/group (was: 1357/0): Operation not permitted

  could be issued.  This is fixed.

- Parallel Builds
  Simultaneous executions of config.status are possible again.

- Precious variables accumulation

  config.status could stack several copies of the precious variables
  assignments.


** Plans for 2.56

- ./configure <host>

  The compatibility hooks with the old scheme will be completely
  removed.  Please, advice/use `--build', `--host', and `--target'
  only.

- AC_CHECK_HEADER, AC_CHECK_HEADERS

  The tests will be stricter, please make sure your invocations are
  valid.

- shell functions

  Shell functions will gradually be introduced, probably starting with
  Autotest.  If you know machines which are in use that you suspect
  *not* to support shell functions, please run the test suite of
  Autoconf 2.55 on it, and report the results to
  address@hidden


ChangeLog entries:

**********************************************************************
ChangeLog       4 Nov 2002 08:47:39 -0000       1.2092
**********************************************************************
2002-11-04  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        Version 2.54c.

        * Makefile.maint (update, cvs-update, po-update, do-po-update):
        New.
        * config/texinfo.tex: Update.

2002-11-03  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autoreconf.in (&autoreconf_current_directory): New, extracted
        from...
        (&autoreconf): here.
        ($help, $make, &parse_args, &autoreconf_current_directory):
        Support -m/--make.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (autoreconf Invocation): Adjust.

2002-10-31  Bruno Haible  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/functions.m4 (_AC_FUNC_MALLOC_IF): Change message.
        Change name of cache variable to ac_cv_func_malloc_0_nonnull.
        (AC_FUNC_MALLOC): Change description of HAVE_MALLOC macro.
        (_AC_FUNC_REALLOC_IF): Change message. Change name of cache variable
        to ac_cv_func_realloc_0_nonnull.
        (AC_FUNC_REALLOC): Change description of HAVE_REALLOC macro.

2002-10-31  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        The test suite was no longer checking for trailing envvars and files.

        * tests/atspecific.m4 (AC_STATE_SAVE): Don't use quadrigraphs here.
        (AT_CHECK_ENV): Make sure the `state-ls.before file exists.

2002-10-31  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/programs.m4 (AC_PROG_MAKE_SET): Use and display
        `$(MAKE)' instead of '${MAKE}' to emphasize that we refer to the
        Make variable, not a shell variable.
        Suggested by Bruno Haible.

2002-10-31  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autom4te.in (load_configuration): Reject #args out of any
        language.

2002-10-31  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (_AC_MSG_LOG_CONFTEST): New.
        (_AC_PREPROC_IFELSE, _AC_COMPILE_IFELSE, _AC_LINK_IFELSE)
        (_AC_RUN_IFELSE): Use it.
        * lib/autoconf/lang.m4 (_AC_COMPILER_OBJEXT):
        (_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_DEFAULT): Likewise.
        * lib/autoconf/c.m4 (AC_LANG_SOURCE): Don't include confdefs.h,
        inline it.

2002-10-30  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autom4te.in (&parse_args, $help): Support --no-cache.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (autom4te Invocation): Adjust.
        Suggested by Tim van Holder.

2002-10-29  Paul Eggert  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Particular Functions): AC_FUNC_MALLOC and
        AC_FUNC_REALLOC check for compatibility with glibc, not POSIX.
        Problem reported by Bruno Haible.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Header Templates): Put also in words what the
        pictures says to assist free style readers.
        (Customizing autom4te): s/--cache=/--cache /.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autoconf/functions.m4 (_AC_FUNC_VFORK): Include stdlib.h and
        sys/wait.h.
        sparc_address_test returns void.
        Use it with an argument, as prototyped.
        From Bruno Haible.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * doc/autoconf.texi (Subdirectories): Cygnus dirs have
        configure.in, not configure.ac.
        Reported by Bruno Haible.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * tests/torture.at (Deep Package): New test.
        (Configuring subdirectories): Don't use a testSubDir as Autotest
        now does it itself.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * bin/autoreconf.in (&parse_args, $help): Support --warnings.
        * doc/autoconf.texi (Invoking autom4te): Rename as...
        (autom4te Invocation): this, for consistency with the other nodes.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/autom4te.in (Autoconf): s/automate/autom4te/.
        Reported by Ralf Corsepius.

2002-10-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * lib/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 (_AS_QUOTE): The warning about quoted
        characters is a back as an `obsolete' warning now.
        Reported by Ralf Corsepius.

2002-10-28  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>

        * configure.ac: Bump to 2.54c.

        Deprecate macros with unusual interfaces.