The last thing I want to squeeze into autoconf 2.73 is a new autoreconf
feature, an option --exclude that can be used to tell autoreconf not to
run particular tools even if its heuristics say they are necessary.  We
had a lot of problems in the past few cycles with autoreconf running
auxiliary tools when people didn't want it to, so I'm hoping this
provides a self-help option for future issues along those lines.
(This feature was originally developed a long time ago by Ross
Burton for the Yocto project.)

However, squeezing features into what would otherwise be a release
candidate is always a risk, and we don't have comprehensive tests
for autoreconf.  I have not yet pushed the patches for this feature
to autoconf development trunk; instead they are on a feature branch,
zack/autoreconf-exclude.  Get it like so:

# if you don't already have a clone of autoconf development trunk
git clone https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/autoconf.git

cd autoconf
git switch zack/autoreconf-exclude

git status # should show no modified files

./bootstrap
mkdir _build
cd _build
../configure  [options]
make

---

Please test this branch's 'autoreconf' on your favorite packages.
Testing with packages that use Gettext, Intltool, and/or gtk-doc
is especially helpful.  If you like, experiment with the new
--exclude option.

If you can, please also help me write tests of applying 'autoreconf'
to packages that use Gettext, Intltool, and/or gtk-doc.  The most
helpful thing you can send me is a complete test that can be dropped
into autoconf's testsuite -- see the "Package requiring libtool" and
"autoreconf --exclude (libtoolize)" tests in tests/torture.at for
examples of what I'm looking for -- but if you don't feel inspired
enough to learn Autotest this week, the next best thing is just a
minimal configure.ac + Makefile.am that will make autoreconf think
it needs to run one of the above tools.

Additional testing of the changes since autoconf 2.72 (all of which
are included in the feature branch) is also, as always, appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
zw

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