[libvirt] the price we pay for using gettext-0.14

Make distcheck currently fails like this: make[2]: Entering directory `/t/libvirt-0.7.6/_build/po' /bin/sh @MKINSTALLDIRS@ /t/libvirt-0.7.6/_inst/share /bin/sh: @MKINSTALLDIRS@: No such file or directory make[2]: *** [install-data-yes] Error 127 That is due to our use of a version of gettext that is way too old: $ grep GETT configure.ac AM_GNU_GETTEXT_VERSION([0.14.1]) The work-around is to define (via AC_SUBST) the now-obsolete symbol, MKINSTALLDIRS, so that @MKINSTALLDIRS@ in the autopoint-provided Makefile.in.in (from the old version of gettext) ends up being substituted. As I recall, people insist on using this old version of gettext, because nothing newer is supplied by RHEL5.x. IMHO, that is RHEL5's problem, and should not be allowed to cause continuing problems in upstream projects. It is easy and safe to install a newer version of gettext, especially since any project using autopoint will automatically continue to get the same bit-rotting old files: a gettext installation includes an archive of all older versions of its files, to provide just this type of backwards compatibility. We had a similar problem in libguestfs, and it was not trivial to diagnose there, either, even though I'd seen it at least once or twice before then. Here's the work-around: [just realized this requires a comment. adding that now] From: Jim Meyering <meyering(a)redhat.com&gt; Date: Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:53:44 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] build: ensure that MKINSTALLDIRS is AC_SUBST-defined since we're using gettext-0.14.1, which uses that now-obsolete automake symbol. Otherwise, make distcheck would fails like this: make[2]: Entering directory `/t/libvirt-0.7.6/_build/po' /bin/sh @MKINSTALLDIRS@ /t/libvirt-0.7.6/_inst/share /bin/sh: @MKINSTALLDIRS@: No such file or directory make[2]: *** [install-data-yes] Error 127 * configure.ac (MKINSTALLDIRS): Define. --- configure.ac | 2 ++ 1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-) diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac index 117cb20..2f79970 100644 --- a/configure.ac +++ b/configure.ac @@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ AC_PROG_CPP AC_OBJEXT +AC_SUBST([MKINSTALLDIRS], [$ac_aux_dir/mkinstalldirs]) + dnl gl_INIT uses m4_foreach_w, yet that is not defined in autoconf-2.59. dnl In order to accommodate developers with such old tools, here's a dnl replacement definition. -- 1.7.0.367.g566c3