GNU bug report logs - #53780
Automake failing with conditional AC_CONFIG_FILES

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

From: Valio Valtokari <ubuntugeek1904 <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: Automake failing with conditional AC_CONFIG_FILES
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2022 17:12:04 +0200

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

Hello,

I have a project that supports multiple platforms (windows and linux as of
right now). To implement testing functionality I use a library that I
haven't configured for windows in my project yet. As such, my configure.ac
has these lines:

AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:src/Makefile])
AM_COND_IF([OS_LINUX], [
    PKG_CHECK_MODULES([CHECK], [check>=0.9])
    AC_CONFIG_FILES([tests/Makefile])
], [])

This seemingly causes automake to crash with:

automake-1.16: error: Makefile:src/Makefile in @other_input_files
automake-1.16: @other_input_files = (Makefile:src/Makefile)
automake-1.16: Please contact <bug-automake <at> gnu.org>.
 at /usr/share/automake-1.16/Automake/Channels.pm line 655.
        Automake::Channels::msg("automake", "", "Makefile:src/Makefile in
\@other_input_files\x{a}\@other_input_file"...) called at
/usr/share/automake-1.16/Automake/ChannelDefs.pm line 226
        Automake::ChannelDefs::prog_error("Makefile:src/Makefile in
\@other_input_files\x{a}\@other_input_file"...) called at
/usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 4311
        Automake::handle_configure("tests/Makefile.am",
"tests/Makefile.in", "tests/Makefile", "tests/Makefile.in") called at
/usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 7950
        Automake::generate_makefile("tests/Makefile.am",
"tests/Makefile.in") called at /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8257
        Automake::handle_makefile("tests/Makefile.in") called at
/usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8269
        Automake::handle_makefiles_serial() called at
/usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8401
autoreconf: error: automake failed with exit status: 255

I'm running on msys2. Any help would be appreciated.

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Message #8 received at 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Nick Bowler <nbowler <at> draconx.ca>
To: Valio Valtokari <ubuntugeek1904 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#53780: Automake failing with conditional AC_CONFIG_FILES
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2022 17:10:59 -0500

On 2022-02-04, Valio Valtokari <ubuntugeek1904 <at> gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I have a project that supports multiple platforms (windows and linux as of
> right now). To implement testing functionality I use a library that I
> haven't configured for windows in my project yet. As such, my configure.ac
> has these lines:
>
> AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:src/Makefile])

Automake probably shouldn't crash but this line is a very unusual way to
tell configure to prepare the toplevel Makefile... it says the input to
generate it is src/Makefile (as opposed to the default Makefile.in).
Basically, this tells configure to copy src/Makefile to Makefile (and
apply substitutions).

Automake will not recognize this as something it should do anything with
(it only looks for matching .am files if it sees an input file that ends
with ".in").

I can only reproduce the crash if there is a file named "Makefile.am" in
the both the toplevel directory and in the "tests" directory.  The
conditional is irrelevant: this will crash just the same:

  AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:src/Makefile tests/Makefile])

Given that, without knowing anything else about your project, I suspect
you probably meant to write:

  AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile src/Makefile])

to have configure and/or automake prepare two different Makefiles.

Hope that helps,
  Nick

Message #11 received at 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mike Frysinger <vapier <at> gentoo.org>
To: Valio Valtokari <ubuntugeek1904 <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#53780: Automake failing with conditional AC_CONFIG_FILES
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2022 01:40:06 -0500

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On 04 Feb 2022 17:12, Valio Valtokari wrote:
> I have a project that supports multiple platforms (windows and linux as of
> right now). To implement testing functionality I use a library that I
> haven't configured for windows in my project yet. As such, my configure.ac
> has these lines:
> 
> AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile:src/Makefile])
> AM_COND_IF([OS_LINUX], [
>     PKG_CHECK_MODULES([CHECK], [check>=0.9])
>     AC_CONFIG_FILES([tests/Makefile])
> ], [])
> 
> This seemingly causes automake to crash with:
> 
> automake-1.16: error: Makefile:src/Makefile in @other_input_files
> automake-1.16: @other_input_files = (Makefile:src/Makefile)
> automake-1.16: Please contact <bug-automake <at> gnu.org>.
>  at /usr/share/automake-1.16/Automake/Channels.pm line 655.
>         Automake::Channels::msg("automake", "", "Makefile:src/Makefile in
> \@other_input_files\x{a}\@other_input_file"...) called at
> /usr/share/automake-1.16/Automake/ChannelDefs.pm line 226
>         Automake::ChannelDefs::prog_error("Makefile:src/Makefile in
> \@other_input_files\x{a}\@other_input_file"...) called at
> /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 4311
>         Automake::handle_configure("tests/Makefile.am",
> "tests/Makefile.in", "tests/Makefile", "tests/Makefile.in") called at
> /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 7950
>         Automake::generate_makefile("tests/Makefile.am",
> "tests/Makefile.in") called at /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8257
>         Automake::handle_makefile("tests/Makefile.in") called at
> /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8269
>         Automake::handle_makefiles_serial() called at
> /usr/bin/automake-1.16 line 8401
> autoreconf: error: automake failed with exit status: 255
> 
> I'm running on msys2. Any help would be appreciated.

can you link to the project/source ?  the snippet you posted isn't complete,
and adding a few more lines doesn't cause automake crash for me.
-mike

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Message #16 received at 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Nick Bowler <nbowler <at> draconx.ca>
To: Valio Valtokari <ubuntugeek1904 <at> gmail.com>, 53780 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#53780: Automake failing with conditional AC_CONFIG_FILES
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2022 02:59:53 -0500

On 2022-02-20, Mike Frysinger <vapier <at> gentoo.org> wrote:
> can you link to the project/source ?  the snippet you posted isn't
> complete, and adding a few more lines doesn't cause automake crash for me.

Here is a minimal reproducer:

  % cat >configure.ac <<'EOF'
  AC_INIT([test], [0])
  AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([foreign])
  AC_CONFIG_FILES([x:y z])
  AC_OUTPUT
EOF

  % touch x.am
  % touch z.am
  % autoreconf -is
  configure.ac:2: installing './install-sh'
  configure.ac:2: installing './missing'
  automake-1.16: error: x:y in @other_input_files
  [...]

Critically, both x.am and z.am files are required to exist to
reproduce the crash.

The "x" output should be ignored by Automake (since its input
filename, "y", does not end in ".in") but it apparently slightly
confused by the existence of the (should not be used) x.am in the
source tree.

I think this crash will, in practice, only ever happen due to
serious mistakes in configure.ac (i.e., I believe the reporter
has used AC_CONFIG_FILES with the wrong filenames).

Cheers,
  Nick

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