Re: getloadavg is broken

[Bruno Haible]

Sam Steingold wrote:
> Unless I remove the offending line (see the appended patch), configure
> fails with "../src/src/gllib/getloadavg.c is missing" message.
> apparently $srcdir is "../src" and $1=$gl_source_base="src/gllib" which
> cannot be combined into anything sensible.

This code was meant to simulate what an AC_LIBSOURCES invocation does.
But AC_LIBSOURCES from autoconf was found to be inadequate in the context
of gnulib and therefore has gotten a gnulib specific override (see
gnulib-tool functions func_emit_initmacro_start, func_emit_initmacro_end).

Most of the gnulib users actually don't even need the AC_LIBSOURCES invocation
normally, because gnulib-tool and a correct module description already
guarantee that source files will be where they are expected.

> no other module does such a check, so it is not clear why getloadavg should.

Good point. Here's a proposed patch.


2011-05-24  Bruno Haible  <address@hidden>

        getloadavg: Remove an unreliable safety check.
        * m4/getloadavg.m4 (gl_GETLOADAVG): Drop argument. Remove test
        whether getloadavg.c is in place.
        * modules/getloadavg (configure.ac): Drop argument of gl_GETLOADAVG.
        Reported by Sam Steingold <address@hidden>.

--- m4/getloadavg.m4.orig       Tue May 24 23:49:07 2011
+++ m4/getloadavg.m4    Tue May 24 23:48:41 2011
@@ -7,23 +7,19 @@
 # gives unlimited permission to copy and/or distribute it,
 # with or without modifications, as long as this notice is preserved.
 
-#serial 2
+#serial 3
 
 # Autoconf defines AC_FUNC_GETLOADAVG, but that is obsolescent.
 # New applications should use gl_GETLOADAVG instead.
 
-# gl_GETLOADAVG(LIBOBJDIR)
-# ------------------------
+# gl_GETLOADAVG
+# -------------
 AC_DEFUN([gl_GETLOADAVG],
 [AC_REQUIRE([gl_STDLIB_H_DEFAULTS])
 
 # Persuade glibc <stdlib.h> to declare getloadavg().
 AC_REQUIRE([AC_USE_SYSTEM_EXTENSIONS])
 
-# Make sure getloadavg.c is where it belongs, at configure-time.
-test -f "$srcdir/$1/getloadavg.c" ||
-  AC_MSG_ERROR([$srcdir/$1/getloadavg.c is missing])
-
 gl_save_LIBS=$LIBS
 
 # getloadvg is present in libc on glibc >= 2.2, MacOS X, FreeBSD >= 2.0,
--- modules/getloadavg.orig     Tue May 24 23:49:07 2011
+++ modules/getloadavg  Tue May 24 23:48:51 2011
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 stdlib
 
 configure.ac:
-gl_GETLOADAVG([$gl_source_base])
+gl_GETLOADAVG
 gl_STDLIB_MODULE_INDICATOR([getloadavg])
 
 Makefile.am:
-- 
In memoriam Georges Darboy <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Darboy>