I'm just reading the current FAQ under
1.3 Where can I get the latest versions of these tools?
http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/faq/autotools-faq.html#Where-can-I-get-the-latest-versions-of-these-tools_003f
Wouldn't it be useful to give a little script that installs know-good
combinations (the latest version?) of all the autotools components in
the users (developers) HOME?
You probably can do
https://github.com/hemmecke/flint2/blob/autotools/autotools.mk
better than me, but it might be a first start.
I suggest this, because I heard several rumours that autotools are a
nightmare and developers might have different versions of them installed
thus leading to weird behaviour. I just think that providing such a
script would contribute to the acceptance of autotools outside the GNU
world.
That Linux distributions usually come with a good set of autotools is
irrelevant, since in my understanding all developers of *one* project
should work with the *same* autotools versions. Of course, the project
might also compile otherwise on different systems, but using the same
version of autotools everywhere reduces (needless) incompatibility
issues between developers and increases acceptance of autotools. No?
Ralf
