Re: [Bug-gnulib] proposed gettext.m4 patch for inttypes.h (merge from coreutils)

[Paul Eggert]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> What was the actual problem that this AC_REQUIRE([gt_HEADER_INTTYPES_H])
> call was causing?

Jim knows better than I, since he removed that call.  I tried to
reproduce his thought processes by adding that call to my merged copy.
I got this diagnostic:

aclocal: macro `gt_HEADER_INTTYPES_H' required but not defined

Copying gnulib/m4/inttypes.m4 fixed this.  However, that's a minor
maintenance hassle, as inttypes.m4 is not needed for coreutils.
inttypes.m4 is needed only for applications that use AM_INTL_SUBDIR,
which are a dying breed these days.  Also, inttypes.m4 will go away
once gettext.m4 assumes Autoconf 2.51 or better.  Possibly Jim didn't
want the hassle of adding inttypes.m4 now just to remove it later.

One workaround is to define an empty gt_HEADER_INTTYPES_H to pacify
Automake.  Maybe Jim would prefer that to including inttypes.m4?

Or, if you like that sort of idea, perhaps we could add a
gettext-external module, which assumes Autoconf 2.54 and assumes
AM_GNU_GETTEXT([external]), and which defines dummies for
gt_HEADER_INTTYPES_H etc.  A bit of a hack, but it'd make the overall
machinery smaller for the typical case these days.