Re: updating binutils/configure

["Maciej W. Rozycki" <macro at ds2 dot pg dot gda dot pl>]

On Wed, 14 Apr 2004, Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:

> >  The bug shouldn't affect binutils -- I've been using autoconf 2.5x
> > (including 2.59) for all directories for some time now with no problems (a
> > few patches are needed, but not related to the bug).
> 
> In that case, would you mind posting these patches?

 Since the patches are big as a whole, I've uploaded them to:  
'ftp://ftp.ds2.pg.gda.pl/pub/macro/binutils/' instead.  Here's a short
comment on each:

1. autoconf-2.53-target_prefix -- (for autoconf) this is a hack needed 
until autoconf can handle setting $*_alias variables without implying a 
cross-compilation.  This has been discussed here not so recently -- still 
on my to-to list, sigh...  This is needed for the ability to set aliases 
for a native setup.

2. autoconf-2.58-catfile -- (for autoconf) not sure if this is needed for
binutils.  I've developed it while working on gdb, perhaps for sim (it was
a bit involving to port it to autoconf 2.5x).  It won't hurt anyway.  
It's needed for the $abs_* autoconf variables to be set to absolute paths
and not relative ones (which is contrary to documentation and breaks
things).  FWIW, the patch was submitted in Nov 2003 and ignored by the
maintainers so far.

3. binutils-2.11.93-20020129-libtool -- you need to do `rm libtool.m4' as 
well.  This is needed for the results of `libtoolize' and `aclocal' to be 
consistent.  If libtool.m4 is updated manually at the time `libtoolize' is 
run, the patch is not needed.

4. binutils-2.12.90-20020520-build-subdir -- this used to be needed for 
the "--with-build-subdir" option.  I think it still is, although that 
needs rechecking.

5. binutils-2.14-ac25 -- AS_* strings are reserved for macros in autoconf 
2.5x -- this one shuts up the complaint about AS_FOR_TARGET.

6. binutils-2.14-intl-ac25 -- this converts intl.  This is actually ready 
for submission if we decide to require autoconf 2.5x there.

7. binutils-2.14.90-20031027-alias -- $*_alias variables may be empty with 
autoconf 2.5x and the compare should be done on canonical system names 
anyway.

8. binutils-2.15.90-20040301-for_build -- CFLAGS_FOR_BUILD are not passed 
to subdirectories (this is actually needed for sim/igen, but I've 
included it for completeness).

9. binutils-2.15.90-20040301-ldflags -- export LDFLAGS to subconfigures to
prevent them from bailing out due to a change to this variable -- this is 
a precious variable in autoconf 2.5x.

10. gcc-3.5.0-20040322-baseargs -- the contents of $ac_configure_args are 
quoted differently with autoconf 2.5x.  I hope the new expression works 
for 2.13, too, but I haven't tested that thorougly.

 The patches are extracted from RPM packages which are available at my
site, too, and are authoritative.  As I'm working on an upgrade to gdb 6.1
right now, some of them may be updated and there may be additions.  I have
more patches solely for gdb, but switching gdb to autoconf 2.5x is
questionable as this is an example where the mentioned autoconf bug hits
(an ugly workaround is to add calls to problematic prerequisities
explicitly to avoid implicit pulls).

  Maciej

-- 
+  Maciej W. Rozycki, Technical University of Gdansk, Poland   +
+--------------------------------------------------------------+
+        e-mail: macro@ds2.pg.gda.pl, PGP key available        +