[Fwd: Autoconf 2.49c: Release candidate]

[Earnie Boyd <earnie_boyd at yahoo dot com>]

I thought maybe someone on this list might be interested in trying this
beta.

Earnie.

Akim Demaille wrote:
> 
> The following message is a courtesy copy of an article
> that has been posted to gnu.utils.bug as well.
> 
> The Autoconf team is extremely proud (and quite relieved) to announce
> the birth of Autoconf 2.49c, our release candidate.  The core Autoconf
> is not expected to change before the release, while the documentation
> and minor details still need some work.
> 
> Since there is a significant number of changes, we would like to ask
> maintainers to give a try to this version, so that problems be
> identified before the 2.50 release.
> 
> Autoconf can be downloaded from
> 
>         ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.49c.tar.gz
> 
> Happy configuring!
> 
>         Akim, Alexandre, Jim, Pavel, Paul, and Tom.
> 
> NEWS:
> 
> * Major changes in Autoconf 2.49c                       -*- outline -*-
> 
> ** Lots of bug fixes
> Way too many for us to spell them out.  Check out ChangeLog if you
> really want to know more.
> 
> ** Improved documentation
> In particular portability issues are better covered.
> 
> ** Use of Automake
> All the standard GNU Makefile targets are supported.  The layout has
> changed: m4/ holds the m4 extensions Autoconf needs for its
> configuration, doc/ contains the documentation, and tests/ the test
> suite.
> 
> ** Man pages are provided
> For autoconf, autoreconf, autoupdate, autoheader, autoscan, ifnames,
> config.guess, config.sub.
> 
> ** autoconf
> - --trace
>   Provides a safe and powerful means to trace the macro uses.  This
>   provide the parsing layer for tools which need to `study'
>   configure.in.
> 
> - --warnings
>   Specify what category of warnings should be enabled.
> 
> - When recursing into subdirectories, try for configure.gnu before
>   configure to adapt for packages not using autoconf on case-insensitive
>   filesystems.
> 
> - Diagnostics
>   More errors are now caught (circular AC_REQUIRE dependencies,
>   AC_DEFINE in the action part of an AC_CACHE_CHECK, too many pops
>   etc.).  In addition, their location and call stack are given.
> 
> ** autoupdate
> autoupdate is much more powerful, and is able to provide the glue code
> which might be needed to move from an old macro to its newer
> equivalent.
> 
> You are strongly encouraged to use it both to modernize your
> `configure.in', but also your .m4 extension files.
> 
> ** autoheader
> The internal machinery of autoheader has completely changed.  As a
> result, using an `acconfig.h' should be considered as obsoleted, and
> you are encouraged to get rid of it using the AH macros.
> 
> ** autoreconf
> Deep overhaul.
> 
> ** Fortran 77 compilers
> Globally, the support for Fortran 77 is considerably improved.
> 
> Support for automatically determining a Fortran 77 compilers
> name-mangling scheme.  New CPP macros F77_FUNC and F77_FUNC_ are
> provided to wrap C/C++ identifiers, thus making it easier and more
> transparent for C/C++ to call Fortran 77 routines, and Fortran 77 to
> call C/C++ routines.  See the Texinfo documentation for details.
> 
> ** Test suite
> The test suite no longer uses DejaGNU.  It should be easy to submit
> test cases in this new frame work.
> 
> ** configure
> - --help, --help=long, -hl
>   no longer dumps useless items.
> - --help=short, -hs
>   lists only specific options.
> - --help=recursive, -hr
>   displays the help of all the embedded packages.
> - Remembers environment variables when reconfiguring.
>   The previous scheme to set envvar before running configure was
>     ENV=VAL ./configure
>   what prevented configure from remembering the environment in which
>   it was run, therefore --recheck was run in an inconsistent
>   environment.  Now, one should run
>     ./configure ENV=VAR
>   and then --recheck will work properly.  Variables declared with
>   AC_ARG_VAR are also preserved.
> - cross-compilation
>   $build defaults to `config.guess`, $host to $build, and then $target
>   to $host.
>   Cross-compilation is a global status of the package, it no longer
>   depends upon the current language.
>   Cross compilation is enabled iff the user specified `--host'.
>   `configure' now fails if it can't run the executables it compiles,
>   unless cross-compilation is enabled.
> - Cache file
>   The cache file is disabled by default.  The new options
>   `--config-cache', `-C' set the cache to `config.cache'.
> 
> ** config.status
> - faster
>   Much faster on most architectures.
> - concurrent executions
>   It is safe to use `make -j' with config.status.
> - human interface improved
>   It is possible to invoke
>     ./config.status foobar
>   instead of the former form (still valid)
>     CONFIG_COMMANDS= CONFIG_HEADERS= CONFIG_LINKS= \
>     CONFIG_FILES=foobar:foo.in:bar.in \
>     ./config.status
>   The same holds for configuration headers and links.
>   You can instantiate unknown files and headers:
>     ./config.status --header foo.h:foo.h.in --file bar:baz
> - has a useful --help
> 
> ** Identity Macros
> - AC_COPYRIGHT
>   Specify additional copyright information.
> 
> - AC_INIT
>   Now expects the identity of the package as argument.
> 
> ** General changes.
> - Uniform quotation
>   Most macros, if not all, now strictly follow the `one quotation
>   level' rule.  This results in a more predictable expansion.
> 
> - AC_REQUIRE
>   A sly bug in the AC_REQUIRE machinery, which could produce incorrect
>   configure scripts, was fixed by Axel Thimm.
> 
> ** Setup Macros
> - AC_ARG_VAR
>   Document and ask for the registration of an envvar.
> 
> - AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR
>   Specifies the file which `configure' should look for when trying to
>   find the source tree (used to be handled by AC_INIT).
> 
> - AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS
>   To add new actions to config.status.  Should be used instead of
>   AC_OUTPUT_COMMANDS.
> 
> - AC_CONFIG_LINKS
>   Replaces AC_LINK_FILES.
> 
> - AC_CONFIG_HEADERS, AC_CONFIG_COMMANDS, AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS,
>   AC_CONFIG_LINKS, and AC_CONFIG_FILES
>   They now obey sh: you should no longer use shell variables as
>   argument.  Instead of
> 
>         test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes && $my_subdirs="$my_subdirs foo"
>         AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS($my_subdirs)
> 
>   write
> 
>         if test "$package_foo_enabled" = yes; then
>           AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS(foo)
>         fi
> 
> - AC_HELP_STRING
>   To format an Autoconf macro's help string so that it looks pretty
>   when the user executes `configure --help'.
> 
> ** Generic Test Macros
> - AC_CHECK families
>   The interface of the AC_CHECK families of macros (decl, header,
>   type, member, func) is now uniform.  They support the same set of
>   default includes.
> 
> - AC_CHECK_DECL, AC_CHECK_DECLS
>   To check whether a symbol is declared.
> 
> - AC_CHECK_SIZEOF, AC_C_CHAR_UNSIGNED.
>   No longer need a cross-compilation default.
> 
> - AC_CHECK_TYPE
>   The test it performs is much more robust than previously, and makes
>   it possible to test builtin types in addition to typedefs.
>   It is now schizophrenic:
>     - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, REPLACEMENT)
>       remains for backward compatibility, but its use is discouraged.
>     - AC_CHECK_TYPE(TYPE, IF-FOUND, IF-NOT-FOUND, INCLUDES)
>       behaves exactly like the other AC_CHECK macros.
> 
> - AC_CHECK_TYPES
>   Checks whether given types are supported by the system.
> 
> - AC_CHECK_MEMBER, AC_CHECK_MEMBERS
>   Check for given members in aggregates (e.g., pw_gecos in struct
>   passwd).
> 
> - AC_PROG_CC_STDC
>   Checks if the compiler supports ISO C, included when needs special
>   options.
> 
> - AC_PROG_CPP
>   Checking whether the preprocessor indicates missing includes by the
>   error code. stderr is checked by AC_TRY_CPP only as a fallback.
> 
> - AC_LANG
>   Takes a language as argument and replaces AC_LANG_C,
>   AC_LANG_CPLUSPLUS and AC_LANG_FORTRAN77.
> 
> - AC_LANG_PUSH, AC_LANG_POP
>   Are preferred to AC_LANG_SAVE, AC_LANG_RESTORE.
> 
> ** Specific Macros
> - AC_FUNC_CHOWN, AC_FUNC_MALLOC, AC_FUNC_STRERROR_R,
>   AC_FUNC_LSTAT_FOLLOWS_SLASHED_SYMLINK, AC_FUNC_STAT, AC_FUNC_LSTAT,
>   AC_FUNC_ERROR_AT_LINE, AC_FUNC_OBSTACK, AC_FUNC_STRTOD, AC_FUNC_FSEEKO.
>   New.
> 
> - AC_FUNC_GETGROUPS
>   Sets GETGROUPS_LIBS.
> 
> - AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG
>   Defines `HAVE_STRUCT_NLIST_N_UN_N_NAME' instead of `NLIST_NAME_UNION'.
> 
> - AC_PROG_LEX
>   Now integrates `AC_DECL_YYTEXT' which is obsoleted.
> 
> - AC_SYS_LARGEFILE
>   Arrange for large-file support.
> 
> - AC_EXEEXT, AC_OBJEXT
>   You are no longer expected to use them: their computation is
>   performed by default.
> 
> ** C++ compatibility
>   Every macro has been revisited in order to support at best CC=c++.

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