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  • Hash : ffd4ecc9
    Author : Stefano Lattarini
    Date : 2013-05-20T11:23:01

    tests: better idiom to override make macro defs on the cmdline
    
    We now do so with a new wrapper shell function 'run_make()', which
    relies on the use of AM_MAKEFLAGS, avoiding the use of the '-e' make
    option.  The use of that option (that causes the environment variables
    to take precedence over the macro definitions in the Makefile) has
    proved to be quite brittle in the past, causing annoying and sometimes
    problematic spurious failures.  This has worsened in some still
    unpublished work going on in development branches.  It's time to solve
    the issue once and for all.
    
    Note that we do not convert all uses of $MAKE in the testsuite right
    away; we might do so in follow-up changes, with leisure, to avoid a
    "patch bomb" effect (this commit is already too much of a bomb itself).
    What we do in this commit is to get rid of all "$MAKE -e" invocations.
    
    We admit that the implementation and feature-set of 'run_make()' are
    far from perfect, but good enough for our current purposes.  We'll
    improve 'run_make()' if and when the need arises.
    
    * syntax-checks.mk (sc_tests_no_make_e): New syntax check, guard against
    the use of "$MAKE -e".
    (syntax_check_rules): Add it.
    (sc_tests_overriding_macros_on_cmdline): Adjust.
    (lint): New, alias for 'maintainer-check', for lazy typists.  Idea
    backported from the 'maint' branch (Automake 1.13a).
    * t/ax/am-test-lib.sh (run_make): New function.  Run $MAKE with the
    given command-line arguments, handling command-line override of variable
    definitions in a smart way (using AM_MAKEFLAGS if a non-GNU make
    implementation is detected to be in use).
    (useless_vpath_rebuild): Adjust to use 'run_make', to avoid a spurious
    maintainer check failure.
    (yl_distcheck): Use 'run_make' rather than bare '$MAKE'.
    (single_quote, append_single_quoted, is_valid_varname): New auxiliary
    function, used, directly or indirectly, by it.
    * Many tests: Adjust to avoid the use of "$MAKE -e", and prefer the
    use of 'run_make' in few other contexts as well, where it makes sense.
    Other minor fixlets while at it.
    
    Signed-off-by: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini@gmail.com>
    

  • README

  • This is the 'contrib' directory of the GNU Automake distribution.
    
    Here you'll find additions to the Automake base distribution, in form of
    makefile fragments, m4 macros, scripts, documentation, et cetera.  Such
    addition that might be useful for a significant percentage of its general
    audience, but (for one reason or another) are not deemed appropriate for
    inclusion into the Automake core.
    
    There are several reasons for which a feature can be kept in contrib:
    
      1. The long-term usefulness of the feature is debatable and uncertain;
         on-field and real-word testing are necessary to prove or disprove
         its usefulness, before the feature can be committed into the Automake
         core (as doing so too early would later force us to continue the
         support for backward-compatibility, even if the features proves
         flawed or fails to attract widespread use).
    
      2. The APIs or overall design of the feature are still unstable, and
         need on-field testing to iron warts and usability bugs, or uncover
         potential flaws.
    
      3. The feature was an historical one, mostly obsoleted but still used
         "here and there" in the wild; so we want to to deprecate it and
         remove it from the Automake core, but cannot remove it altogether,
         for the sake of those still-existing usage.  So it gets moved in
         contrib.