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Date: Wed, 09 Aug 2006 19:00:54 +0200
From: Reini Urban <rurban AT x-ray DOT at>
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To: cygwin AT cygwin DOT com
Subject: autom4te-2.13 missing in autoconf2.1-2.13-1
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Hi Charles,

Please see below.

Charles Wilson schrieb:
> This announcement comes somewhat late, but is provided so that there 
> exists some record of this change in the cygwin-announce mailing list 
> archive.
> 
> On July 1, 2005, the existing autotools on cygwin were all obsoleted by 
> new versions, where the newer releases were more consistent with 
> established practice on other platforms.
> 
> ======OBSOLETED PACKAGE LIST
> 
> autoconf-stable-2.13
> autoconf-devel-2.5x
> 
> automake-stable-1.4pX
> automake-devel-1.9.x
> automake-1.9.x (wrappers)
> 
> libtool-stable-1.4.3
> libtool-devel-1.5.x
> libtool-1.5.x (wrappers)
> 
> ======NEW PACKAGE LIST
> 
> autoconf2.1-2.13-1
> autoconf2.5-2.59-1
> 
> automake1.4-1.4p6-2
> automake1.6-1.6.3-2
> automake1.7-1.7.9-2
> automake1.8-1.8.5-2
> automake1.9-1.9.5-2
> 
> libtool1.5-1.5.18-1
> 
> ======UPDATED PACKAGE LIST
> 
> autoconf-2.59-2  (wrappers)
> 
> For a complete (and extremely verbose) description of the changes and 
> the rationale for them, see below.
> 
> -- 
> Chuck
> 
> 
> 
> ######################### begin OLD ###########################
> 
> The old release worked as follows (originally described here: 
> http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2001/msg00177.html)
> 
> autoconf-2.13    installed into /usr/autotool/stable/
>                  and packaged as 'autoconf-stable-VER'
> 
> automake-1.4-p5  installed into /usr/autotool/stable/
>                  and packaged as 'automake-stable-VER'
> 
> libtool-1.4.3    installed into /usr/autotool/stable
>                  and packaged as 'libtool-stable-VER'
> 
> autoconf-2.5x    installed into /usr/autotool/devel
>                  and packaged as 'autoconf-devel-VER'
> 
> automake-1.X.y   (x > 5) installed into /usr/autotool/devel/
>                  and packaged as 'automake-devel-VER'
> 
> libtool-1.5.x    installed into /usr/autotool/devel/
>                  and packaged as 'libtool-devel-VER'
> 
> autoconf-wrappers, a homegrown kludge of a wrapper script system, was 
> installed into /usr/, KNEW about /usr/autotool/*/, and would delegate to 
> the approprate autoconf (stable or devel) based on environment variables 
> or heuristics applied to the target package's configure.[in|ac] file. 
> These heuristics often failed.  And the wrappers were notoriously out of 
> sync with the -stable and -devel versions of the "real" autoconf.  This 
> package is what you get when you installed "autoconf" as opposed to 
> "autoconf-stable" or "autoconf-devel"
> 
> automake-wrappers, same song, second verse.
> 
> libtool-wrappers, third verse.
> 
> There were two other drawbacks to this system: (1) because cygwin's 
> autotool installation was "different" we didn't recieve the same level 
> of support, or ease in merging patches, into upstream distributions of 
> OTHER packages.  The "red-headed stepchild" problem, I called it. (2) 
> You could only have TWO versions of automake installed, even tho 
> upstream automake itself allows multiple versions of automake to be 
> coinstalled on the same system.  But our installation mechanisms 
> prevented that.
> 
> So why did we do all this?  Well, there were a number of good reasons, 
> all described here: 
> http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-announce/2001/msg00177.html  This setup 
> served us well for four years, and we were the first "distribution" as 
> far as I know to support having both autoconf-2.13 and autoconf-2.5x 
> simultaneously installed.  But, the other distributions like Red Hat, 
> Mandriva, Suse, etc, eventually saw the light and began to support 
> coinstalls.  Now, it behooves us to transition to their mechanisms, as 
> we can then benefit from the testing and experience of their larger 
> installed base, AND lose the "but cygwin is different" scarlet letter.
> 
> ######################### end OLD ###########################
> 
> So, on May 30, 2005 in this message 
> (http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin-apps/2005-05/msg00322.html), reproduced 
> in part below, I proposed a new system which was rolled out on July 1, 
> 2005.
> 
> It's been almost four years since I rolled out a wrapper-script solution 
> to the autotool version conflict problem. In that time, many packages 
> have completed their migration from autoconf-2.13 to autoconf-2.5x. 
> Also, the automake team has worked hard to maintain same-system-install 
> cooperation between different versions of automake. And finally, 
> libtool-1.4p5 has almost disappeared from use -- any package still using 
> a 1.4p5-DERIVED version of libtool has been forced to make so many 
> custom modifications that they can hardly be considered the "standard" 
> 1.4p5 release anyway.
> 
> In short, most of the needs addressed by the overly complicated wrapper 
> scripts and /usr/autotool/{devel|stable} installation have been obsoleted.
> 
> The new system has the following features:
> 
> AUTOCONF:
> 
> (1) autoconf2.1-2.13 package installed into /usr/* but suffixed: 
> autoconf-2.13, autoheader-2.13, etc.
> 
> (2) autoconf2.5-2.59 package installed into /usr/* but suffixed:
> autoconf-2.59, autom4te-2.59, etc.
> 
> (3) a single wrapper script with symlinks from /usr/bin/autoconf, 
> /usr/bin/autom4te, etc, that dispatches to the correct versioned program 
> of the symlinked name, based on the contents of configure.in and/or 
> environment variables.
> 
> Note that the "autoconf-devel" and "autoconf-stable" packages are 
> officially obsoleted.  The autoconf (wrapper) package contains Red 
> Hat-derived scripts, instead of custom (buggy, homegrown) ones.
> 
> AUTOMAKE:
> 
> (4) side-by-side installs of automake1.5-1.5.x, automake1.6-1.6.x, 
> automake1.7-1.7.x, automake1.8-1.8.x, and automake1.9-1.9.x. All 
> binaries are versioned.
> 
> (5) an /etc/alternatives/-like symlink system for the "unversioned" 
> automake, aclocal, binaries
> 
> Note that the "automake-stable" and "automake-stable" packages are 
> officially obsoleted, as well as the "automake" (wrappeR) package 
> itself.  There is no real need for a wrapper system, since the tools can 
> be invoked directly via versioned names, or the alternatives package can 
> be used to ensure that the desired version is the "default" one for a 
> given machine (See 'man update-alternatives').  The drawback here is 
> that invoking 'automake' directly no longer displays "intelligence" when 
> choosing which version to run; it is configured on a per-machine basis, 
> and does not "intelligently" adapt to the package.
> 
> I put "intelligence" in quotes to emphasize that this "intelligence" was 
> nothing of the sort.  It was an artifact of our "fixed-chain" 
> stable/devel installation.  In the OLD system, you had exactly two choices:
> 
>    autoconf-2.13 + automake-1.4p5 + libtool-1.4.3
> or
>    autoconf-2.5x + automake-1.x.y + libtool-1.5.x
> 
> So, we could intelligently choose between autoconf-2.13 and 
> autoconf-2.5x -- BUT, once that choice was made, it MUST be followed for 
> the automake and libtool steps.  Crosslinking between the "stable" and 
> "devel" autotools was NOT allowed.
> 
> Under the NEW setup, crosslinking IS allowed, provided the tools are 
> inherently compatible (e.g. libtool-1.5.x requires automake-1.5 or 
> greater -- but you're free to use automake-1.5, -1.6, 1.9, whatever. 
> Similarly, automake-1.9 requires autoconf-2.5x, but automake-1.7 WILL 
> work with autoconf-2.13.)  For more information on the exact dependency 
> relationship between the autotools, see their respective homepages and 
> release notes.  The important point is that WE, the cygwin platform, do 
> not impose any ADDITIONAL dependency requirements betweeen the autotools 
> provided.  (Whereas under the OLD setup, we DID do so.)
> 
> This change may impact some existing users; one was already hit by 
> reliance on our old "intelligent" automake wrappers. See
> "autoconf problem on cygwin" here 
> http://www.cygwin.com/ml/cygwin/2005-07/msg01056.html (it was actually 
> an autoMAKE problem, not autoCONF).
> 
> LIBTOOL:
> 
> (6) only one installation of libtool at this time, but perhaps more when 
> the libtool team figures out how to enable side-by-side installs.
> 
> Note that libtool-stable, libtool-devel, and libtool (wrappers) are all 
> obsoleted by libtool1.5-1.5.18-1.
> 
> 
> DRAWBACKS to the new setup:
> (1) only one libtool, and it is only compatible with the newer automakes 
> and autoconfs.  Thus, if you're still using autoconf-2.13, you can't use 
> the official libtool.
> 
> (2) No more fake "intelligence" for choosing between automakes.  You can 
> control this choice manually, but that requires knowledge/effort on the 
> part of the developer.
> 
> BENEFITS to the new setup:
> 
> (1) more similar to existing linux installation styles
> 
> (2) easier to maintain for me -- which means more frequent updates
> 
> (3) less confusing for new users and folks 'crossing over' from linux
> 
> (4) All (minor) versions of automake now available, not just a chosen two.
> 
> (5) we can stop being the red-headed-stepchild of the autotool world 
> "This works thusly, except on cygwin because of their wierd installation"
> 
> OBSOLETED PACKAGE LIST:
> autoconf-stable-2.13
> autoconf-devel-2.5x
> automake-stable-1.4pX
> automake-devel-1.9.x
> automake-1.9.x (wrappers)
> libtool-stable-1.4.3
> libtool-devel-1.5.x
> libtool-1.5.x (wrappers)
> 
> NEW PACKAGE LIST
> autoconf2.1-2.13-1

This package misses /usr/bin/autom4te-2.13
resp. the wrapper has no extra logic for the missing autom4te.

I solved it by
   cp /usr/bin/autom4te-2.5x /usr/bin/autom4te-2.13
Strangely this was the first time I needed such an old cruft, for catdoc.

> autoconf2.5-2.59-1
> automake1.4-1.4p6-2
> automake1.6-1.6.3-2
> automake1.7-1.7.9-2
> automake1.8-1.8.5-2
> automake1.9-1.9.5-2
> libtool1.5-1.5.18-1
> 
> UPDATED PACKAGE LIST
> autoconf-2.59-2  (wrappers)


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