Re: Mutilated stdlib.h

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Ralf,

I wrote:
> > make[2]: *** No rule to make target `../build-aux/c++defs.h', needed by 
> > `c++defs.h'.  Stop.

The command sequences were broken. With correct commands, I cannot reproduce
it. Sorry, false alarm again.

> That's what automake's dependency tracking code does
> (in the .Po and .Plo files).

Good. I'm glad to hear that this works now.

> > Also, independently of gnulib, any project that conditionally uses
> > AC_CONFIG_LINKS gets trouble: The generated symlink stays on the file system
> > if after rerunning configure and config.status the symlink should not be
> > pressent any more. Only "make clean" or "make distclean" removes it.
> 
> Granted, this is a problem that is not easy to fix: the new Makefile and
> configure script may not have any idea about what links the previous set
> created.

You could fix half of the problem like this: Enhance the AC_CONFIG_LINKS macro
so that it emits, into the INIT_PREPARE section, an augmentation of a shell
variable that collects all AC_CONFIG_LINKS files. Like we do in
AC_CHECK_HEADERS_ONCE:

  m4_divert_text([INIT_PREPARE],
    [ac_all_config_links="$ac_all_config_links $1"])

And when config.status is run without arguments, remove all these symlinks
first, before creating the new ones.

This will fix the case where the precondition of AC_CONFIG_LINKS has changed.
It will not fix the case where the AC_CONFIG_LINKS invocation has entirely
disappeared.

Bruno
-- 
In memoriam Karol Wojtyla <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karol_Wojtyla>