an update to automake-1.11?

[Ralf Corsepius]

Stepan Kasal wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> On Wed, Jul 01, 2009 at 07:30:37AM +0200, Ralf Corsepius wrote:
>> Kevin Kofler wrote:
>>> Some software may need the new version to build.
>> Very unlikely.
> 
> There are people using the new features, like Jim Mayering, the
> coreutils maintainer, and others.  Building checkouts or even
> tarballs of their projects on F9 might be a problem.
No, not if they bundle the generated auto* files with their tarballs, as 
they are supposed to do.

>> However, this upgrade may break rebuilding some of the packages whose  
>> packagers refuse to accept that running the autotools during builts is  
>> harmful.
> 
> But this is not too likely either.
Right, it is unlikely to happen with packages which already use 
automake-1.10 or versions next to it.

>  Only a minority of Fedora
> packages does run autotools in their spec files.
Well, with Fedora having attracted new packagers, who are not aware 
about the issues lurking, the number of such packages is increasing, 
once again!

>> Anyway, the changes between automake-1.10 and automake-1.11 have
>> been  comparatively harmless.
> 
> Thank you for saying that.  (Yes, I know this statment does not mean
> you support the updates and I do not intend to imply that.)
Oh, actually I welcome Fedora shipping automake-1.11, because
a) it will cause some moderate stir-up to those packages whose upstreams 
are still abusing the autotools.
b) it will force packagers who are running the autotools during builds 
to review their packages, and to reconsider their habits.
c) I (as a developer) am using automake-1.11 for my own works already.


The new features having been introduced to automake-1.11, however are 
not welcomed by me. Neither do I find them useful nor do I find them 
helpful - They better should never have been added to automake!

Ralf