On 22/03/2026 19.09, Gavin Smith wrote:
On Tue, Mar 17, 2026 at 11:20:17AM +0100, Manuel Jacob wrote:
Hi,
When cross-compiling texinfo in an environment where ncurses is available
for the host machine (e.g. in a sysroot), but not for the build machine,
running `make` fails with the following error:
...
The same error has been reported here:
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-texinfo/2013-11/msg00017.html
In the case of cross-compiling, parts of texinfo are built for running on
the build machine (in the `tools` directory). For each of the build machine
and the host machine, it is decided whether the `info` subdirectory is built
or not, based on `HAVE_TERMLIBS`. If `HAVE_TERMLIBS` is false for the build
machine and true for the host machine, `tools/info` will not be built, but
`info` will be built, trying to execute `../tools/info/makedoc`, which is
not there.
A possible workaround is to execute `make -C tools/info makedoc` before
executing `make`.
Thanks for testing and investigating this. I'm surprised that
cross-compilation works at all - the support in the build system for it is
very old and is from before the Perl implementation of makeinfo, as far as
I am aware.
I've attempted a fix based on your description. I'm not really sure how
I would test this, but if you can confirm this works, we could make this
change.
I can confirm that these two ways to build texinfo produce exactly the
same end result:
1) without your patch and with `make -C tools/info makedoc` workaround
2) with your patch and without `make -C tools/info makedoc` workaround
diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index ba1f5e1d7d..8bbc9d546e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,15 @@
+2026-03-22 Gavin Smith <[email protected]>
+
+ Always build info/makedoc when cross-compiling
+
+ * Makefile.am (SUBDIRS) [TOOLS_ONLY]:
+ Always include "info" subdirectory to allow "makedoc" program
+ to be built on "build" system when cross-compiling, even if terminal
+ library is not found on "build".
+ * info/Makefile.am (bin_PROGRAMS): Use HAVE_TERMLIBS conditional to
+ only include "ginfo" if terminal library is found.
+ (LDADD, ginfo_LDADD): Only use $(TERMLIBS) in ginfo_LDADD.
+
2026-03-22 Patrice Dumas <[email protected]>
Put lineraw line commands leading and trailing directly in tree
diff --git a/Makefile.am b/Makefile.am
index 5002ff9371..88e673b41b 100644
--- a/Makefile.am
+++ b/Makefile.am
@@ -51,15 +51,7 @@ install-tex:
SUBDIRS =
if TOOLS_ONLY
# Build native tools only.
- SUBDIRS += gnulib/lib install-info tta util
-if HAVE_TERMLIBS
- SUBDIRS += info
-else
-# DOS/Windows don't need TERMLIBS to build Info
-if HOST_IS_WINDOWS
- SUBDIRS += info
-endif
-endif
+ SUBDIRS += gnulib/lib info install-info tta util
We could avoid building the `info` directory for build if it’s not
needed for host. But, unless you can think of an easy way to that, it’s
probably not worth any extra effort.
else
# All subdirectories.
# Do libs first since the C programs depend on it.
@@ -74,9 +66,8 @@ if HOST_IS_WINDOWS
SUBDIRS += info
endif
endif
- SUBDIRS += install-info po po_document tta Pod-Simple-Texinfo \
- texindex util doc man
- SUBDIRS += js
+ SUBDIRS += install-info js po po_document texindex tta Pod-Simple-Texinfo \
+ util doc man
endif
distclean-local:
diff --git a/info/Makefile.am b/info/Makefile.am
index 265f538371..f66db95245 100644
--- a/info/Makefile.am
+++ b/info/Makefile.am
@@ -18,10 +18,18 @@
# distributed even without no-dist-built-sources
AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = 1.16
+if HAVE_TERMLIBS
+bin_PROGRAMS = ginfo
+else
+# DOS/Windows don't need TERMLIBS to build Info
+if HOST_IS_WINDOWS
+bin_PROGRAMS = ginfo
+endif
+endif
You could wrap the whole block in `if ! TOOLS_ONLY` because it doesn’t
seem like the info tool is needed for the build machine.
+
# Use `ginfo' for building to avoid confusion with the standard `info'
# target. Removes the `g' in the install rule before applying any
# user-specified name transformations.
Maybe this comment should be moved up to before the previous block?
-bin_PROGRAMS = ginfo
transform = s/ginfo/info/; $(program_transform_name)
AM_CPPFLAGS = \
@@ -34,7 +42,7 @@ AM_CPPFLAGS = \
-DSYSCONFDIR=\"$(sysconfdir)\" \
-DPKGDATADIR=\"$(pkgdatadir)\"
-LDADD = $(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib/libgnu.a $(TERMLIBS)
+LDADD = $(top_builddir)/gnulib/lib/libgnu.a
# for various gnulib modules
LDADD += $(LIBINTL) $(LIBICONV) $(LIBC32CONV) $(LIBUNISTRING) $(LIBTHREAD)
@@ -45,6 +53,8 @@ LDADD += $(HARD_LOCALE_LIB) $(SETLOCALE_NULL_LIB)
# for mbrtowc gnulib module which is brought in indirectly
LDADD += $(MBRTOWC_LIB)
+ginfo_LDADD = $(LDADD) $(TERMLIBS)
+
# Needed if make has not run in the "gnulib" directory yet
../gnulib/lib/libgnu.a:
cd ../gnulib/lib && $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS)
[unrelated to the diff:]
info/Makefile.am contains the following:
funs.h: makedoc$(EXEEXT) $(cmd_sources)
rm -f $(generated_sources)
$(top_builddir)/$(native_tools)/info/makedoc $(cmd_sources)
I think that the dependency on makedoc$(EXEEXT) is not necessary in the
cross-compilation case. Skipping compilation of it won’t make a big
difference in compilation time, but it probably clarifies things for the
reader (even though it’s more verbose).
(This made me think whether there is a way to actually add a dependency
on `$(top_builddir)/$(native_tools)/info/makedoc`. I’m not at all
familiar with recursive automake, but there doesn’t seem a
straightforward way).
