Re: AC_PROG_INSTALL does not trigger install-sh availability

[Eric Blake]

On 09/14/2010 03:32 PM, Jan Engelhardt wrote:
> Hi,
>
>
> using a configure.ac file with just four lines:
>
> AC_INIT([foo], [1])
> AC_PROG_INSTALL
> AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
> AC_OUTPUT
>
> I can produce a configure script by running `autoreconf -fi`, however,
> running the then-created ./configure leads to:
>
> configure: error: cannot find install-sh, install.sh, or shtool in "."
> "./.." "./../.."
>
> On IRC it was suggested to add in AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE; however, I am not
> planning on using automake for this sample.
> Why did autoreconf not copy install-sh? This looks a little like a bug.

By design, autoconf itself does NOT copy install-sh directly, but 
assumes that it will be installed externally.  One way to install it 
externally is to use automake, the other way is to do it manually. 
Autoreconf, in turn, calls autoconf and conditionally calls automake; 
but if you aren't using automake, then autoreconf won't re-implement any 
of the actions that automake would have given you.  Therefore, ifou are 
not going to use automake, then you are manually responsible for putting 
install-sh in the right place.  This is already documented under 
AC_PROG_INSTALL in the autoconf manual, although patches to clarify the 
wording and make it more obvious would be welcome.

--
Eric Blake   address@hidden    +1-801-349-2682
Libvirt virtualization library http://libvirt.org