[...] Tom> I think renaming the directories in $(datadir) is fine. Tom> But I'm not as sure about renaming the executables by Tom> default. I think I'd prefer to simply install as Tom> `automake', and let package maintainers use Tom> `--program-suffix=-1.5' (or equivalent) in their spec Tom> files. What do you think of that?
This seems to be the minimum required to allow parallel installs of Automake. However doing only this makes unsafe to use versions installed that way, due to the rebuild rules issue you pointed out: using automake-1.5 is useless if the resulting Makefile.in's only call automake. Tom> One issue is what we put in the rebuild rules in the Tom> Makefile. We'd have to put the version there. That's a Tom> potential problem if, say, you move from using 1.5 to Tom> 1.5.1. You'd have to re-run automake by hand, and your Tom> package would depend on the precise release. Havoc> The version that gets encoded in file and directory Havoc> names should be like a soname; it changes when you break Havoc> the "ABI" Maybe `automake' should not be a symlink but a script that select the right automake version to use for a project. I'm very sceptic about all this, tho. It's easy to write Makefile.am's that works with both Automake 1.4 and 1.5. If some project requires 1.5 it can require it using the '1.5' option. Ideally, Automake 1.5 users should to be able to compile every project. Maybe it would be better to focus on ensuring backward compatibility, rather than devising something which will hide unwanted ABI breakage. [...] Havoc> libgconf_$(MAJOR_VERSION)_la_LDFLAGS obviously doesn't work. (Aside: Maybe libgconf_@MAJOR_VERSION@_la_LDFLAGS does?) [...] Tom> A problem with having aclocal look in $(datadir)/aclocal Tom> by default is that we'll end up picking up 1.4 macros for Tom> a 1.5 install. I guess proper ordering of the `push's Tom> will handle this. easily Havoc> It's probably appropriate to simply make a decision on Havoc> whether third-party macros can be "for any automake" I think Tom was thinking about Automake's own macros. Havoc> or whether they have to be for a specific automake Havoc> "ABI". I don't think such dependency exists. Third-party m4 macros are usually dependent upon Autoconf, not Automake. I'm sure Akim will write "aclocal should belong to Autoconf" if he posts a message in that thread <wink>. [...] -- Alexandre Duret-Lutz
