Bug#746514: Autoreconf during build

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 04:46:53PM +0200, Bill Allombert a écrit :
>  	</p>
> +	<p>
> +          If your package includes the scripts <prgn>config.sub</prgn> and 
> +          <prgn>config.guess</prgn>, you should arrange for the versions
> +          provided by the package <package>autotools-dev</package> be used
> +          instead (see <package>autotools-dev</package> documentation for
> +          details how to achieve that).
> +	</p>

Hi Bill and everybody,

I agree with the intent, but I think that the wording is too restrictive, since
a package that would use autoreconf and install config.* files at a version
newer than what autotools-dev provides would not comply with the Policy.

Also, since the key point of autotools-dev is to update the config.* files
in a large number of Debian packages without having to re-upload them, I propose
to explain this in the added paragraph.

How about:

Packages including the scripts <prgn>config.sub</prgn> and
<prgn>config.guess</prgn> should replace them at build time by fresh versions
provided by the package <package>autotools-dev</package> or
<package>automake</package>.  This ensures that new architectures can easily be
added in Debian without having to update a large number of source packages.
See the documentation of <package>autotools-dev</package> or
<package>dh-autoreconf</package> for examples on how to achieve that.

(Feel free to correct my English).

Have a nice week-end,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan