The non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack module

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Jim, all,

When I try to use the gnulib-tool --create-testdir option to produce a testdir
for all modules, it encounters errors and produces no toplevel Makefile.in:

$ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --with-tests --dir=/tmp/testdir1
gnulib-tool: warning: module euidaccess depends on a module with an 
incompatible license: group-member
gnulib-tool: warning: module strtod-obsolete depends on a module with an 
incompatible license: strtod
...
executing aclocal -I glm4
executing autoconf
executing autoheader
executing automake --add-missing --copy
configure.ac:3601: error: required directory ./lib does not exist
configure.ac:23: installing 'build-aux/ar-lib'
configure.ac:4: installing 'build-aux/install-sh'
configure.ac:4: installing 'build-aux/missing'
Makefile.am:5: warning: AM_GNU_GETTEXT used but 'po' not in SUBDIRS
gllib/Makefile.am:47: error: required file 'lib/alloca.c' not found
gllib/Makefile.am: installing 'build-aux/depcomp'
configure.ac: installing 'build-aux/ylwrap'

I've tracked it down to the module 'non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack':

$ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --with-tests --dir=/tmp/testdir3 nocrash 
non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack
...
executing aclocal -I glm4
executing autoconf
executing autoheader
executing automake --add-missing --copy
configure.ac:109: error: required directory ./lib does not exist
...

$ ./gnulib-tool --create-testdir --with-tests --dir=/tmp/testdir3 alloca 
non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack
...
executing aclocal -I glm4
executing autoconf
executing autoheader
executing automake --add-missing --copy
configure.ac:110: error: required directory ./lib does not exist
configure.ac:22: installing 'build-aux/ar-lib'
configure.ac:8: installing 'build-aux/compile'
configure.ac:4: installing 'build-aux/install-sh'
configure.ac:4: installing 'build-aux/missing'
automake: error: '$(ALLOCA)' cannot be used outside 'lib' if 'subdir-objects' 
is not set
gllib/Makefile.am:46: error: required file 'lib/alloca.c' not found
gllib/Makefile.am: installing 'build-aux/depcomp'

Here are the problems that I see:

1) Both modules/non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack and
   m4/non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack.m4 hardcode the subdirectory name 'lib'.
   (Why does m4/non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack.m4 use 'lib' in one place and 
$1
   in another place??)

2) This is a different way of using Automake; it should not be used in 
gnulib-tool's
   testdirs.

3) Why has this feature been implemented as a module that hacks around in
   undocumented Autoconf internals (ac_subst_vars is undocumented, no?, and
   gl_LIBOBJS is undocumented as well), rather than as a command-line option
   to gnulib-tool?

4) This module was added in September 2012. Does this mean that no one has used
   gnulib-tool --create-testdir option to produce a testdir for all modules,
   in four years?!

For problem 2), I propose the remedy below.

Bruno


2016-10-16  Bruno Haible  <address@hidden>

        gnulib-tool: Make --create-testdir on all modules work again.
        * gnulib-tool (func_create_testdir): Don't include the
        non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack module.

diff --git a/gnulib-tool b/gnulib-tool
index 12ee19f..666057a 100755
--- a/gnulib-tool
+++ b/gnulib-tool
@@ -5811,10 +5811,12 @@ func_create_testdir ()
   if test -z "$modules"; then
     # All modules together.
     # Except config-h, which breaks all modules which use HAVE_CONFIG_H.
+    # Except non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack, which represents a nonstandard
+    # way of using Automake.
     # Except ftruncate, mountlist, which abort the configuration on mingw. 
FIXME.
     # Except lib-ignore, which leads to link errors when Sun C++ is used. 
FIXME.
     modules=`func_all_modules`
-    modules=`for m in $modules; do case $m in config-h | ftruncate | mountlist 
| lib-ignore) ;; *) echo $m;; esac; done`
+    modules=`for m in $modules; do case $m in config-h | 
non-recursive-gnulib-prefix-hack | ftruncate | mountlist | lib-ignore) ;; *) 
echo $m;; esac; done`
   fi
   specified_modules="$modules"