GNU bug report logs - #71847
Automake 1.16.90 regression mistakenly "not using Libtool"

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From: Dave Hart <davehart <at> gmail.com>
To: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
Cc: 71847 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#71847: Self-inflicted problem, libtool and automake installed to different prefixes
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2024 17:34:49 +0000

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On Tue, 2 Jul 2024 at 17:15, Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org> wrote:

> Hi Dave,
>
>     # wget https://davehart.net/ntp/test/ntp-4.2.8p18-vcs.tar.xz
>     # tar xf *p18-vcs*xz
>     # cd *vcs
>     # ./bootstrap
>
> After more testing, I don't believe it is a regression. If I install
> 1.16.5 in its own prefix, say /tmp/am165, the ntp bootstrap fails in the
> same way:
> Makefile.am:161: error: Libtool library used but 'LIBTOOL' is undefined
> ..
>
> This is because, as Nick described in
>   https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2024-06/msg00094.html
> given a compile-time prefix of /tmp/whatever, there is nothing make
> aclocal look into /usr/local/gnu (in your case, or whatever the real
> <prefix>/share/aclocal is) to find the needed libtool.m4.
>
> Thus, I was able to find libtool.m4 by explicitly telling aclocal about
> the real system dir. Copying the invocation from what autoreconf was
> doing (added -d to the autoreconf invocation in your bootstrap; BTW, you
> might want to do that by default, because why not?):
>   aclocal --system-acdir=/usr/local/gnu/share/aclocal --verbose -I sntp/m4
> -I sntp/libevent/m4 -I sntp/libopts/m4
> did find libtool.m4 .


Thanks for running this down, Karl.  I'm happy if you're happy, but I am
left with one question:  Why is it installing prerelease automake in a
different prefix for testing hasn't required also installing libtool to the
same prefix (think back to your "baffled" comment)?

I can probably remember to either point automake at libtool or install
libtool in the same prefix for future automake between-releases testing,
but if this is (and perhaps has been) an issue, a couple of suggestions
come to mind:

A)  Perhaps the prerelease announcements should mention the issue somehow
(e.g. suggesting also installing libtool to any test prefix, or pointing
via 'autoreconf -d' or the environment variable).
B)  Perhaps the libtool macros not found error message could hint at this
cause alongside the stuff about ensuring LT_INIT is used.

Thanks again,
Dave Hart

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