Re: new module 'iconv_open'

[Simon Josefsson]

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> Simon Josefsson wrote:
>> > Also, AC_PROG_YACC doesn't do this. It simply prints one line of output,
>> > like most other autoconf tests.
>> 
>> Right, but AC_PROG_YACC doesn't test whether there is a yacc tool
>> installed.
>
> Huh? Autoconf's doc says:
>
>  -- Macro: AC_PROG_YACC
>      If `bison' is found, set output variable `YACC' to `bison -y'.
>      Otherwise, if `byacc' is found, set `YACC' to `byacc'.  Otherwise
>      set `YACC' to `yacc'.

I was unclear and made a somewhat obscure reference -- AC_PROG_YACC
has the weird semantics that it will set YACC to yacc without checking
if there is a yacc binary installed.  AC_PROG_PATH doesn't do that.
If the requested tool isn't available, AC_PROG_PATH will not touch the
variable at all, and it will typically be empty.

> Really I don't see a difference between the situations for bison, gperf, and
> gaa. All three are development tools needed by the maintainer but not needed
> for users of a tarball. All three are not among the set of tools required
> by 'configure'.

I think that depends on how you regard 'users'.  Some users modify the
code.

> The only difference I see is the immediate reference to the download
> location in the gaa macro, but this is what an INSTALL or
> DEPENDENCIES file is good for, no?

Sure, that also works.

/Simon