I tried to get autoconf into breaking by wrong Perl version or no Perl at all.
########## add to <top>/m4/groff.m4:
# We need Perl 5.6.1 or newer.
AC_DEFUN([GROFF_PERL],
PERLVERSION=v5.6.1
AC_PATH_PROG([PERLPATH], [perl], [/usr/bin/perl])
if test -z "$PERLPATH"; then
AC_MSG_ERROR([perl not found])
fi
$PERLPATH -e "require $PERLVERSION" || \
AC_MSG_ERROR([perl version to old])
AC_SUBST([PERLPATH])
AC_SUBST([PERLVERSION]))
##########
########## replace in <top>/configure.ac:
# AC_PATH_PROG([PERLPATH], [perl], [/usr/bin/perl])
GROFF_PERL
##########
But autoconf seems not to work. When I replace `perl' by `perl_wrong' or the
`PERLVERSION' by `v5.29.1' it should break. Even configure runs without any
problem.
Bernd Warken