Re: Bug#25778: autoconf: Please update config.{guess|sub}

[Ben Pfaff <pfaffben@pilot.msu.edu>]

Jim Pick <jim@jimpick.com> writes:

   Package: autoconf
   Version: 2.12-8

   The versions of config.guess and config.sub in /usr/lib/autoconf
   are very old.  Newer versions of these files are available in the
   /usr/share/automake directory.  It might be best to contact the author,
   Per Bothner <bothner@cygnus.com> to get the very latest versions.

Okay, I'll do that.

You know actually I'm working on the ARM port just a little (I've been
busy lately) and in fact I'd forgotten I was the autoconf maintainer,
or I would have fixed this earlier.  Sorry :-)

   For the port the the ARM architecture, we are encountering many packages
   that won't build properly because the older config.{guess|sub} files don't
   know "sa110" as a response from "uname -m", so we need to make NMUs for
   those packages.  Fixing autoconf won't solve the problem completely,
   because these two files are typically shipped along with the source
   of packages.  But it seems wrong for autoconf to be installing versions
   of these files that are as old as 1996.

You are correct here.

   Maybe it would make sense to put Per's files in a separate package,
   which automake, autoconf and libtool could depend upon?

Maybe.  I'll talk to the automake/libtool maintainers.