Subject: Re: bug#16841: Bug#738716: automake: Generates syntax error in configure script

From: Stefano Lattarini <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:24:57 +0100

tags 16841 + patch
close 16841
thanks

On 02/22/2014 08:40 AM, Eric Dorland wrote:
> * Hilko Bengen ([email-masked]) wrote:
>> Source: automake-1.14
>> Version: 1:1.14.1-2
>> Severity: critical
>> Tags: patch
>>
>> While trying to build a new version of nbdkit, I fonud that a freshly
>> generated configure script contains a syntax error:
>>
>> ,----
>> | $ curl -O http://libguestfs.org/download/nbdkit/nbdkit-1.1.4.tar.gz
>> | [...]
>> | $ tar xzf nbdkit-1.1.4.tar.gz
>> | $ cd nbdkit-1.1.4/
>> | $ autoreconf
>> | $ ./configure
>> | [...]
>> | checking for style of include used by make... GNU
>> | checking whether make supports nested variables... yes
>> | checking dependency style of gcc... gcc3
>> | ./configure: line 4820: syntax error near unexpected token `case'
>> | ./configure: line 4820: `fi case `pwd` in'
>> `----
>>
>> To me, this looks like a missing newline at the end of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE
>> in /usr/share/aclocal-1.14/init.m4. At least the attached patch fixes
>> the problem for me.
>
> It looks like the problem is the dnl on your AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE line:
>
> AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE(foreign) dnl NB: Do not [quote] this parameter.
>
> That's suppressing the natural new line that would be there. But I
> think the patch is legitimate so forwarding it along.
>
>> --- /usr/share/aclocal-1.14/init.m4.orig        2014-02-12 09:45:22.883382346 +0100
>> +++ /usr/share/aclocal-1.14/init.m4     2014-02-12 09:45:40.758921507 +0100
>> @@ -164,7 +164,8 @@
>>   END
>>       AC_MSG_ERROR([Your 'rm' program is bad, sorry.])
>>     fi
>> -fi])
>> +fi
>> +])
>>
>>   dnl Hook into '_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT' early to learn its expansion.  Do not
>>   dnl add the conditional right here, as _AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT may be further
>
>
Agreed, we shouldn't have broken backward-compatibility for no good reason
(and IIRC the removal of the trailing newline wasn't deliberated).  Fixed
with the attached patch.

Thanks,
   Stefano
>From 69d9e8de6154916072900974d62f3b27ba9c664c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
Message-Id: <69d9e8de6[email-masked]>
From: Stefano Lattarini <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 11:44:12 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE: make sure has a trailing newline after
 expansion

This used to be the case until Automke 1.13, but we broke it in
Automake 1.14 (see commit v1.13.1-71-gf78b0f0).  This caused
issues like http://debbugs.gnu.org/16841

* m4/init.m4 (AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE): Adjust.
* t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh: New test.
* t/list-of-tests.mk: Add it.
* NEWS, THANKS: Update.

Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <[email-masked]>
---
 NEWS                                     |  9 +++++++
 THANKS                                   |  1 +
 m4/init.m4                               |  6 ++++-
 t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 t/list-of-tests.mk                       |  1 +
 5 files changed, 60 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh

diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 614eba6..626d295 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -104,6 +104,15 @@
 
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+New in 1.14.2:
+
+* Bugs fixed:
+
+  - The expansion of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE ends once again with a trailing
+    newline (bug#16841). Regression introduced in Automake 1.14.
+
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
 New in 1.14.1:
 
 * Bugs fixed:
diff --git a/THANKS b/THANKS
index 7f84850..9ace719 100644
--- a/THANKS
+++ b/THANKS
@@ -152,6 +152,7 @@ Harlan Stenn                    [email-masked]
 He Li                           [email-masked]
 Henrik Frystyk Nielsen          [email-masked]
 Hib Eris                        [email-masked]
+Hilko Bengen                    [email-masked]
 Ian Lance Taylor                [email-masked]
 Ignacy Gawedzki                 [email-masked]
 Илья Н. Голубев                 [email-masked]
diff --git a/m4/init.m4 b/m4/init.m4
index 432ff20..d8350fe 100644
--- a/m4/init.m4
+++ b/m4/init.m4
@@ -164,7 +164,11 @@ to "yes", and re-run configure.
 END
     AC_MSG_ERROR([Your 'rm' program is bad, sorry.])
   fi
-fi])
+fi
+dnl The trailing newline in this macro's definition is deliberate, for
+dnl backward compatibility and to allow trailing 'dnl'-style comments
+dnl after the AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE invocation. See automake bug#16841.
+])
 
 dnl Hook into '_AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT' early to learn its expansion.  Do not
 dnl add the conditional right here, as _AC_COMPILER_EXEEXT may be further
diff --git a/t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh b/t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0f47f16
--- /dev/null
+++ b/t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+# Copyright (C) 2014 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
+#
+# This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+# the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
+# any later version.
+#
+# This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+# but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+# MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+# GNU General Public License for more details.
+#
+# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+# along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+# Check that a trailing 'dnl' m4 comment automake after the
+# AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE invocation doesn't produce a syntactically
+# invalid configure script.  This used to be the case until
+# automake 1.13, but we broke that in automake 1.14. See
+# automake bug#16841.
+
+am_create_testdir=empty
+. test-init.sh
+
+cat > configure.ac <<END
+AC_INIT([test-pr16841], [1.0])
+AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([1.14 -Werror]) dnl Some comment
+echo "OK OK OK"
+AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
+AC_OUTPUT
+END
+
+: > Makefile.am
+
+$ACLOCAL
+$AUTOCONF
+$AUTOMAKE -a
+
+./configure >stdout || { cat stdout; exit 1; }
+cat stdout
+greop '^OK OK OK$' stdout
+
+:
diff --git a/t/list-of-tests.mk b/t/list-of-tests.mk
index 462497e..c98d69e 100644
--- a/t/list-of-tests.mk
+++ b/t/list-of-tests.mk
@@ -132,6 +132,7 @@ t/amhello-cflags.sh \
 t/amhello-cross-compile.sh \
 t/amhello-binpkg.sh \
 t/aminit-moreargs-deprecation.sh \
+t/aminit-trailing-dnl-comment-pr16841.sh \
 t/amassign.sh \
 t/am-config-header.sh \
 t/am-prog-cc-stdc.sh \
-- 
2.1.3