Re: SKIP_FTRUNCATE_CHECK

[Jim Meyering]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> wrote:
> Hi Jim,
>
> A gnulib testdir with the module 'ftruncate', cross-compiled to mingw
> (--host=i386-pc-mingw32), showed me this:
>
> configure: error: Your system lacks the ftruncate function.
>           Please report this, along with the output of "uname -a", to the
>           address@hidden mailing list.  To continue past this point,
>           rerun configure with SKIP_FTRUNCATE_CHECK=yes.
>           E.g., ./configure SKIP_FTRUNCATE_CHECK=yes
>
> Since mingw will still be around for a few years, we need to keep this module.
> (But if you didn't have many reports like this and if mingw is not among the
> porting targets of coreutils, you may of course drop this module from 
> coreutils.)
>
> The ftruncate.m4 has a FIXME with the date 2007. Does this mean that you can
> now remove the SKIP_FTRUNCATE_CHECK? Having to rerun configure is a bit
> annoying for the installer.

Thanks for the report.
This is the first I've heard about anyone hitting that diagnostic.
For now, I'll push the date back to 2010.

        * m4/ftruncate.m4: Adjust comment to give this module a 3-year reprieve.
        Prompted by a report from Bruno Haible that mingw lacks ftruncate.

Index: m4/ftruncate.m4
===================================================================
RCS file: /sources/gnulib/gnulib/m4/ftruncate.m4,v
retrieving revision 1.12
diff -u -p -r1.12 ftruncate.m4
--- m4/ftruncate.m4     19 Feb 2007 02:24:42 -0000      1.12
+++ m4/ftruncate.m4     19 Feb 2007 18:19:29 -0000
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-#serial 11
+#serial 12

 # See if we need to emulate a missing ftruncate function using fcntl or chsize.

@@ -7,8 +7,10 @@
 # gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
 # with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.

-# FIXME: remove this macro, along with all uses of HAVE_FTRUNCATE in 2007,
-# if the check below provokes no reports.
+# FIXME: remove this macro, along with all uses of HAVE_FTRUNCATE in 2010,
+# if the check below provokes no more reports.  So far, the only report
+# arose from a test build of this gnulib module, cross-compiling to mingw:
+# <http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.gnulib.bugs/9203>

 AC_DEFUN([gl_FUNC_FTRUNCATE],
 [