* GNUmakefile: When Makefile is not present, make common targets depend
on all to trigger nicer error message.
* configure.ac: If autoconf is new enough, link GNUmakefile into VPATH
builds.
Signed-off-by: Eric Blake <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
---
GNUmakefile | 5 +++++
configure.ac | 7 +++++++
2 files changed, 12 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
For the first change, the idea here is that in well-formed GNU packages and
with GNU make, './configure && make check' or './configure && make install'
generally work out of the box. But in an un-configured tree, while 'make'
complains loudly that configure has not been run yet, 'make check' without the
patch is less-than-helpful:
$ make
There seems to be no Makefile in this directory.
You must run ./configure before running `make'.
make: *** [all] Error 1
$ make check
make: *** No rule to make target `check'. Stop.
In contrast, non-GNU makes ignore GNUmakefile altogether, so the user gets a
consistent message implying that Makefile is not present regardless of what GNU
Coding Standard targets they requested of make (true, they don't get the
helpful message to run ./configure, but oh well). It seems odd that GNU make
users are on the losing end of this scenario, hence the patch.
[At this point, I'm wondering if GNUmakefile should also check whether
configure is present, in which case it suggests reading the hacking
instructions and running ./bootstrap; although that only affects unbootstrapped
trees, rather than unconfigured trees, so it affects a smaller audience.]
For the second change, it is nice to link GNUmakefile into the VPATH build
tree, so that a VPATH 'make dist' using GNU make picks up all of the maintainer
bonus rules (including those in Makefile.maint). Unfortunately, autoconf 2.61
AC_CONFIG_LINKS does not support this usage; you need 2.61a.100 or greater. On
the other hand, coreutils already relies on newer autoconf anyway.
[I really wish the FSF lawyers would come to a resolution on how to license
autoconf under GPLv3+ with exception; autoconf 2.62 has been held up long
enough.]
--
Eric Blake
diff --git a/GNUmakefile b/GNUmakefile
index 49e41b7..edb03ad 100644
--- a/GNUmakefile
+++ b/GNUmakefile
@@ -75,6 +75,11 @@ all:
@echo "You must run ./configure before running \`make'." 1>&2
@exit 1
+check: all
+install: all
+dist: all
+distcheck: all
+
endif
# Tell version 3.79 and up of GNU make to not build goals in this
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 5c332db..6608278 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -333,6 +333,13 @@ AC_SUBST([CONFIG_STATUS_DEPENDENCIES])
AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external], [need-formatstring-macros])
AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.15])
+dnl Allow maintainer rules under GNU make even in VPATH builds. This does
+dnl not work in autoconf 2.61 or earlier, but we don't want to require
+dnl non-maintainers to use unreleased autoconf, hence the version test.
+dnl TODO remove the version check once autoconf 2.62 is released.
+m4_if(m4_version_compare([2.61a.100], m4_defn([AC_AUTOCONF_VERSION])), [1], [],
+ [AC_CONFIG_LINKS([GNUmakefile:GNUmakefile])])
+
AC_CONFIG_FILES(
Makefile
doc/Makefile
--
1.5.4
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