GNU bug report logs - #28002
Automake doesn't handle AC_CONFIG_FILES syntax errors properly

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo)" <sean.ghulam <at> nokia.com>
To: "bug-automake <at> gnu.org" <bug-automake <at> gnu.org>
Subject: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a colon-separated
 list of input files
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 2017 08:10:58 +0000

$ automake
automake: error: src/Makefile:append/append.mk in @other_input_files
automake: @other_input_files = (src/Makefile:append/append.mk)
automake: Please contact <bug-automake <at> gnu.org>.
 at /usr/share/automake-1.13/Automake/Channels.pm line 662.
        Automake::Channels::msg('automake', '', 'src/Makefile:append/append.mk in @other_input_files\x{a}@other_in...') called at /usr/share/automake-1.13/Automake/ChannelDefs.pm line 212
        Automake::ChannelDefs::prog_error('src/Makefile:append/append.mk in @other_input_files\x{a}@other_in...') called at /bin/automake line 4214
        Automake::handle_configure('Makefile.am', 'Makefile.in', 'Makefile', 'Makefile.in') called at /bin/automake line 7873
        Automake::generate_makefile('Makefile.am', 'Makefile.in') called at /bin/automake line 8189
        Automake::handle_makefile('Makefile.in') called at /bin/automake line 8203
        Automake::handle_makefiles_serial() called at /bin/automake line 8337

Tested versions:  automake-1.13 and automake-1.15

How to reproduce:
Extract /usr/share/doc/automake-1.13.4/amhello-1.0.tar.gz
Create directory amhello-1.0/append
Create file amhello-1.0/append/append.mk
Add any text to amhello-1.0/append/append.mk
Edit configure.ac to include append/append.mk in AC_CONFIG_FILES as follows:

AC_CONFIG_FILES([
 Makefile
 src/Makefile:append/append.mk
])

Documentation:
AC_CONFIG_FILES 
You can override an input file name by appending to file a colon-separated list of
input files. Examples:
AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:boiler/top.mk:boiler/bot.mk]
[lib/Makefile:boiler/lib.mk])
Doing this allows you to keep your file names acceptable to DOS variants, or to
prepend and/or append boilerplate to the file.

Best Regards,
Sean

Message #8 received at 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker <at> t-online.de>
To: "Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo)" <sean.ghulam <at> nokia.com>,
 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#28002: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a
 colon-separated list of input files
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2017 01:19:39 +0200

Am 07.08.2017 um 10:10 schrieb Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo):

> AC_CONFIG_FILES([ >   Makefile>   src/Makefile:append/append.mk> ])
Your bug report might be more convincing if you hadn't got that syntax 
wrong.  Compare your example with the documentation example you found, 
and particularly note where the []s and are:

> AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:boiler/top.mk:boiler/bot.mk]
> [lib/Makefile:boiler/lib.mk])

Wouldn't you agree that your example should have been

AC_CONFIG_FILES(
  [Makefile]
  [src/Makefile:append/append.mk]
)

?

Message #11 received at 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo)" <sean.ghulam <at> nokia.com>
To: Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker <at> t-online.de>,
 "28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#28002: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a
 colon-separated list of input files
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2017 06:03:53 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hi,


Prior to writing the report, I tried it with:


AC_INIT([amhello], [1.0], [bug-automake <at> gnu.org])
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([-Wall -Werror foreign])
AC_PROG_CC
AC_CONFIG_HEADERS([config.h])
AC_CONFIG_FILES(
[Makefile]
[src/Makefile:append/append.mk]
)
AC_OUTPUT

I have tried it once again and still receive the same error.

Best Regards,
Sean


________________________________
From: Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker <at> t-online.de>
Sent: Tuesday, August 8, 2017 2:19 AM
To: Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo); 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#28002: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a colon-separated list of input files

Am 07.08.2017 um 10:10 schrieb Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo):

> AC_CONFIG_FILES([ >   Makefile>   src/Makefile:append/append.mk> ])
Your bug report might be more convincing if you hadn't got that syntax
wrong.  Compare your example with the documentation example you found,
and particularly note where the []s and are:

> AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:boiler/top.mk:boiler/bot.mk]
> [lib/Makefile:boiler/lib.mk])

Wouldn't you agree that your example should have been

AC_CONFIG_FILES(
   [Makefile]
   [src/Makefile:append/append.mk]
)

?

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

Message #14 received at 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Hans-Bernhard Bröker <HBBroeker <at> t-online.de>
To: "28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: Re: bug#28002: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a
 colon-separated list of input files
Date: Tue, 8 Aug 2017 20:45:04 +0200

Am 08.08.2017 um 08:03 schrieb Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo):

> Prior to writing the report, I tried it with:
> AC_CONFIG_FILES(
> [Makefile]
> [src/Makefile:append/append.mk]
> )

On closer examination, the problem is that you've been reading only 
autoconf documenation to find out how to prepare input used by both 
autoconf and automake.  The correct syntax is actually in the automake 
manual:

AC_CONFIG_FILES(
 [Makefile]
 [src/Makefile:src/Makefile.in:append/append.mk]
)

The trick being that for automake to grok multi-part input, you have to 
name not just the final output file, but also the intermediate (the one 
automake is to build from src/Makefile.am).

Message #17 received at 28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: "Ghulam, Sean (Nokia - FI/Espoo)" <sean.ghulam <at> nokia.com>
To: "28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org" <28002 <at> debbugs.gnu.org>
Subject: bug#28002: automake prog_error when appending to configure.ac a
 colon-separated list of input files
Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2017 10:44:49 +0000

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

The following goes through:


AC_CONFIG_FILES(
[Makefile]
[src/Makefile:src/Makefile.in:append/append.mk]
)

Thanks

[Message part 2 (text/html, inline)]

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