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 2.53 and 2.54, forthcoming Gettext release might require 2.54. 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 This version is no longer maintained.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-2.54b.tar.gz (1.1 MB) ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.54b.tar.bz2 (787 KB) And here are xdelta-style diffs ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.54a-2.54b.xdelta (23 KB) Here are the MD5 and SHA1 signatures: 3389f90c4b56a6e82b89292588080029 autoconf-2.54b.tar.gz 18b1b2c98de8614368ea248f9df60d8f autoconf-2.54b.tar.bz2 322df1a0e93e28a97329714f5b8965f9 autoconf-2.54a-2.54b.xdelta ca32ca028228210f0ea97e27cf364bd08e1b7efa autoconf-2.54b.tar.gz fe186e6025e1fe9e1de8055b65ef81bd4289ee5b autoconf-2.54b.tar.bz2 50ab7a46b147c92fd066a6c8c40156d2796b935e autoconf-2.54a-2.54b.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. ** Obsolete options Support for the obsoleted options -m, --macrodir, -l, --localdir is dropped in favor of the safer --include/--prepend-include scheme. ** Customization - ~/.autom4te.cfg makes it possible to disable the caching mechanism (autom4te.cache). See `Customizing autom4te' in the documentation. ** Macros - New macros AC_COMPILER_IFELSE, AC_FUNC_MBRTOWC, AC_HEADER_STDBOOL, AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM, 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ChangeLog entries: ********************************************************************** ChangeLog 28 Oct 2002 08:57:40 -0000 1.2075 ********************************************************************** 2002-10-28 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Version 2.54b. * tests/foreign.at (Libtool): Adjust to broken libtoolize. 2002-10-28 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * tests/atspecific.m4 (AT_CHECK_AUTOM4TE): Be robust to different m4 executable names, and different GNU M4 version. Reported by Ezra Peisach and Paul Jarc. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * lib/autoconf/functions.m4 (_AC_FUNC_VFORK): Really use AC_RUN_IFELSE. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * doc/autoconf.texi: More AC_MSG_FAILURE promotion. * lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (_AC_F77_NAME_MANGLING): Die when a simple Fortran program cannot be compiled. * lib/autoconf/lang.m4 (AC_LANG_CALL, AC_LANG_FUNC_LINK_TRY): Issue a warning if no function is given. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * doc/autoconf.texi (Run Time): Document AC_RUN_IFELSE. Move the documentation of AC_TRY_RUN to... (Obsolete Macros): here. Adjust all the old samples still using AC_TRY_RUN to AC_RUN_IFELSE. (autoconf Invocation): Remove the duplicates with `invoking autom4te'. * lib/autoconf/headers.m4 (AC_HEADER_STDC): Don't use AC_TRY_RUN. * lib/autoconf/c.m4 (AC_C_BIGENDIAN): Likewise. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * doc/autoconf.texi (Generating Sources): Document AC_LANG_CALL and AC_LANG_FUNC_LINK_TRY. (Examining Libraries): Rename as... (Running the Linker): this. Document AC_LINK_IFELSE. Move the documentation of AC_TRY_LINK and AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC to... (Obsolete Macros): here. * lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (_AC_F77_NAME_MANGLING): Don't use AC_TRY_LINK_FUNC nor AC_TRY_LINK. * lib/autoconf/libs.m4 (AC_CHECK_LIB, AC_PATH_XTRA): Likewise. * lib/autoconf/headers.m4 (AC_USG): Likewise. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * lib/autoconf/headers.m4 (AC_HEADER_STDC): Don't use AC_TRY_CPP. More `check config.log' messages. * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (AC_MSG_FAILURE): New. * doc/autoconf.texi (Printing Messages): Document it. * lib/autoconf/types.m4 (AC_CHECK_SIZEOF): Use it when appropriate. * lib/autoconf/lang.m4 (_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_DEFAULT) (_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_WORKS, _AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT_O) (_AC_COMPILER_OBJEXT): Likewise. * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (AC_RUN_IFELSE): Likewise. * lib/autoconf/fortran.m4 (_AC_LANG_PROGRAM_C_F77_HOOKS): Likewise. * lib/autoconf/c.m4 (AC_PROG_CPP, AC_PROG_CC, AC_PROG_CXXCPP): Likewise. Deprecate macros with unusual interface. * lib/autoconf/general.m4 (AC_TRY_CPP, AC_TRY_LINK) (AC_TRY_COMPILE, AC_TRY_RUN): AU_DEFUN'ed. Document the new ones, and proper style. * doc/autoconf.texi (Generating Sources): New. Document AC_LANG_CONFTEST, AC_LANG_SOURCE, AC_LANG_PROGRAM. (Examining Declarations): Rename as... (Running the Preprocessor): this. Document AC_PREPROC_IFELSE. (Examining Syntax): Rename as... (Running the Compiler): this. (AC_FOO_IFELSE vs AC_TRY_FOO): New section. (Obsolete Macros): Move the definition of AC_TRY_CPP and AC_TRY_COMPILE here. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Move sections around. * doc/autoconf.texi (Customizing autom4te): Remove a lost sentence. Reported by Burno Haible. (Language Choice): Now the first section of... (Writing Tests): this section. Make the introduction less C-centric. (Guidelines, Test Functions): Move to... (Writing Test Programs): this new section. (Test Programs): Merge into... (Run Time): this. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * lib/freeze.mk ($(AUTOM4TE_CFG)): Add a missing dependency on autom4te.in that resulted in the need for two `make' runs. 2002-10-27 Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * configure.ac: Bump to 2.54b.
