| hi akim, | first, thank you for responding! | | i finally did find out what was wrong: autoconf 2.5x and 2.13 debian | packages were both installed on my system. the *packages* don't | conflict but the programs do. inadvertantly, some of what i did used | the 2.5 tools and some used the 2.13 tools.
Arg... I'm applying the following patch. It should help avoiding such pitfalls, plus anyway it is better this way. Index: ChangeLog from Akim Demaille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> * bin/autoscan.in (output): Output AC_PREREQ. (%needed_macros): Add AC_PREREQ so that configure.ac without one be reported. Index: bin/autoscan.in =================================================================== RCS file: /cvsroot/autoconf/autoconf/bin/autoscan.in,v retrieving revision 1.87 diff -u -u -r1.87 autoscan.in --- bin/autoscan.in 28 Sep 2002 14:03:14 -0000 1.87 +++ bin/autoscan.in 25 Oct 2002 08:19:12 -0000 @@ -73,7 +73,10 @@ # $NEEDED_MACROS{MACRO} is an array of locations requiring MACRO. # E.g., $NEEDED_MACROS{AC_FUNC_ALLOC} the list of `file:line' containing # `alloca (...)'. -my %needed_macros = (); +my %needed_macros = + ( + 'AC_PREREQ' => [$me], + ); my $configure_scan = 'configure.scan'; my $log = new Autom4te::XFile ">$me.log"; @@ -98,6 +101,8 @@ -V, --version print version number, then exit -v, --verbose verbosely report processing -d, --debug don't remove temporary files + +Library directories: -B, --prepend-include=DIR prepend directory DIR to search path -I, --include=DIR append directory DIR to search path @@ -496,8 +501,11 @@ my $file = new Autom4te::XFile ">$configure_scan"; print $file - ("# Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.\n" - . "AC_INIT(FULL-PACKAGE-NAME, VERSION, BUG-REPORT-ADDRESS)\n"); + ("# -*- Autoconf -*-\n" . + "# Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.\n" . + "\n" . + "AC_PREREQ(@VERSION@)\n" . + "AC_INIT(FULL-PACKAGE-NAME, VERSION, BUG-REPORT-ADDRESS)\n"); if (defined $cfiles[0]) { print $file "AC_CONFIG_SRCDIR([$cfiles[0]])\n"; | configure script was generated and it almost ran to completion. | | checking whether gcc accepts -g... yes | checking for gcc option to accept ANSI C... none needed | configure: error: cannot find install-sh or install.sh in . ./.. ./../.. | | /usr/bin/install is on my system, and is also in my PATH. but according | to the autoconf info page: | | - Macro: AC_PROG_INSTALL | | Set output variable `INSTALL' to the path of a BSD compatible | `install' program, if one is found in the current `PATH'. | Otherwise, set `INSTALL' to `DIR/install-sh -c', checking the | directories specified to `AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR' | | the info page also says that AC_PROG_INSTALL filters out "install" | implementations that are known to be buggy, but i doubt GNU install is | buggy. | | i was able to get configure to complete successfully by commenting out | AC_PROG_INSTALL in configure.in, but that's a bandaid fix. how can i | get configure to recognize /usr/bin/install? That's not the problem. Autoconf *wants* to have the script named install-sh in the top level (or AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR). Because *your* machine is not what matters: the machines of other people are Autoconf's targets.