Package: autoconf Version: 2.65-2 Severity: wishlist Hi again,
As I mentioned in http://bugs.debian.org/559636, most configure scripts generated by autoconf fail if there is no copy of install-sh nearby: | configure: error: cannot find install-sh, install.sh, or shtool in "." "./.." "./../.." This is to help a maintainer avoid distributing a package that will not work appropriately on platforms with no good 'install' available. Fixing it generally means providing an appropriate install.sh, but consider a maintainer who runs autoconf as part of the build process: - If she adds the script and forgets about it, this means including a program bundled from elsewhere and letting it bitrot; and on the other hand, - If she copies in the latest version at build time, this means requiring automake as a dependency on many machines where it is not going to be used to do anything that "touch install-sh" couldn’t do; and even so, - If she stops using AC_PROG_INSTALL, this means abandoning 'autoreconf -fi && ./configure && make && make install' on platforms where the only functional 'install' command is named 'ginstall' and abandoning 'automake -fa && autoreconf -fi && ./configure && make && make install' on platforms with no functional 'install' command. So instead we provide our own placeholder install-sh: #!/bin/sh echo >&2 "No suitable 'install' command found.'" echo >&2 "If automake is installed, running 'automake -fa'" echo >&2 "(and ignoring the errors) might produce one." exit 1 Wouldn’t it be better to improve AC_PROG_INSTALL to address this case? An argument to AC_PROG_INSTALL or command-line option to configure to say "yes, I know install-sh is missing" would be really nice to have. What do you think? Jonathan -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-bugs-dist-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org
