On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 7:23 AM <dmitrii.pasech...@cs.ox.ac.uk> wrote: > > One expects that the macro AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK > traverses the list of programs in its 2nd argument > in the same way as AC_PATH_PROGS, > i.e. the outermost loop is over the list of programs. > > But in AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK the outer loop is > over the PATH entries, making it in general impossible to > select programs in the list in order specified (without modifying the > path), while this is often very desirable.
Thanks for the suggestion. We are in a feature freeze right now, leading up to the release of Autoconf 2.70; we're not going to make this change until after the release. (It is currently scheduled for mid-to-late October.) We would also need to have some confidence that the change won't break existing configure scripts and third-party macros. Might you have time in the next couple months to find existing uses of AC_PATH_PROG_FEATURE_CHECK and determine how your proposed change would affect them? (Start here: https://codesearch.debian.net/search?q=-pkg%3Aautoconf+%5CbAC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK%5Cb&literal=0 ) It would also be helpful if you could describe a situation where selecting from the programs in the list in the order specified is "very desirable". I've never needed to use AC_PATH_PROGS_FEATURE_CHECK myself so I don't already know why this matters. zw
