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Re: suggestion: put AC_ at the front of AC_ items in the index
From: |
Alexandre Duret-Lutz |
Subject: |
Re: suggestion: put AC_ at the front of AC_ items in the index |
Date: |
Sat, 29 Mar 2003 11:33:26 +0100 |
User-agent: |
Gnus/5.090016 (Oort Gnus v0.16) Emacs/21.2 (gnu/linux) |
>>> "Akim" == Akim Demaille <address@hidden> writes:
>> Someone who was trying to learn GNU Autoconf wrote:
>> I couldn't understand the text because I didn't realize that the GNU
>> autoconf doc's index of the "AC_" macros were listed without that
>> pesky leading "AC_" in their names.
>>
>> This has been really frustrating.
>>
>> Larry Lindstrom
>> <http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3E78D980.A4764091%40aracnet.com>
>>
>> Perhaps we should put the AC_ there. Its absence really
>> isn't buying us much.
Akim> Well, the printed index would be much less elegant, as there would be
Akim> the letter "A", and that's all.
I second Paul. I've been confused by these missing prefixes too.
I'm not really concerned by the elegance of the printed index: I
think headings between letters are useless since word are
sorted alphabetically anyway (dictionaries have such headings
too, but nobody use them to look up words.)
Akim> The index does include the following piece of information:
Akim> Autoconf Macro Index
Akim> ====================
Akim> This is an alphabetical list of the Autoconf macros. To make the
Akim> list easier to use, the macros are listed without their preceding `AC_'.
Akim> * Menu:
Akim> * AH_BOTTOM: Autoheader Macros.
Akim> * AH_TEMPLATE: Autoheader Macros.
As I read it, it means the above lines stand for AC_AH_BOTTOM
and AC_AH_TEMPLATE.
The M4 Macro Index is even more confusing:
| M4 Macro Index
| ==============
|
| This is an alphabetical list of the M4, M4sugar, and M4sh macros. To
| make the list easier to use, the macros are listed without their
| preceding `m4_' or `AS_'.
|
| * Menu:
|
| * bpatsubst: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * bregexp: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * defn: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * DIRNAME: Programming in M4sh.
| * dnl: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * dquote: Evaluation Macros.
| * m4_exit: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * m4_if: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * m4_wrap: Redefined M4 Macros.
| * MKDIR_P: Programming in M4sh.
| * pattern_allow: Forbidden Patterns.
| * pattern_forbid: Forbidden Patterns.
| * quote: Evaluation Macros.
| * undefine: Redefined M4 Macros.
It's not obvious from this list which are the M4 macros, which are
the M4sugar macros, and which are the AS_macros. If prefixes were
used systematically, it would be clear that m4_pattern_allow is
a m4sugar thing, and that dnl has *not* been redefined as m4_dnl.
--
Alexandre Duret-Lutz