Re: My project can't use `silent-rules'

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Sun, 17 May 2009, Peter O'Gorman wrote:
> Hi Bob,
> You can use m4_easycmd to run your scripts at autoconf time. E.g. (from
> autoconf itself):
> AC_INIT([GNU Autoconf],
>        m4_esyscmd([build-aux/git-version-gen .tarball-version]),
>        address@hidden)

I still owe you large quantities of beer.  However, in order to 
clarify, I would like to be able to execute configure script shell 
script code (more like a configure test) and not generate a new 
configure script just because the version has changed.

It turns out that the current approach is just an artifact of how 
things have been done since day one.  The reality is that the 
configure script does not care more about package version (or name, 
etc.) any more than any other data that the configure script figures 
out.  It just needs a way to readily produce the information for 
informational messages.

A proper solution would allow the configure script to determine the 
version via user provided shell code.  For example, the libtiff 
package includes the file VERSION yet the person doing the release 
always needs to remember to make sure that the VERSION file and the 
number in configure.ac are in sync.  As long as the makefile includes 
rules to cover any added dependency relationships, then there is no 
problem.

For GraphicsMagick "daily" snapshots, my shell code creates a snapshot 
date based on the most recent ChangeLog entry and this is used as part 
of the version.  The generated configure script never gets updated 
unless functionality has been changed.

If m4_esyscmd can be mentioned here, can a user-provided macro (which 
invokes shell code) be invoked from the same place?

Bob
--
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/