<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> The current Autotools minimum requirements are stated in <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.x.org/wiki/ModularDevelopersGuide">http://www.x.org/wiki/ModularDevelopersGuide</a>. <ul> <li> autoconf (2.60)</li> <li> automake (1.10)</li> <li> libtool (1.5)</li> </ul> These requirements should be revised periodically. A number of factors would motivate such a revision: <ul> <li>The oldest autotool one can still use today dates from 2003.</li> <li>Some macros we use today have been deprecated for ten years and are planned to be removed from future versions of autotools (that are now available today). </li> <li>It is nearly impossible for a developer to know if a feature he is using today is available in the oldest tool one can use.</li> <li>Our dependencies and newly created modules are coding against what is available on their computer and perhaps not even aware of those minimum requirements. </li> </ul> <blockquote><tt>Package</tt><tt> </tt><tt>autoconf ac_prereq Really needs </tt><tt>automake libtool</tt><tt> </tt><tt>libdrm</tt><tt> 2.63 2.62 1.10 2</tt><tt>.</tt><tt>2</tt><tt> </tt><tt>mesa not specified 2.6</tt><tt>1 1.10 2.2</tt><tt> </tt><tt> </tt><tt>libevdev 2.64 2.62 1.11 2.2</tt><tt> </tt><tt>Others 2.60 2.60 1.10 1.5 </tt></blockquote> Current Versions for Autoconf, Automake and Libtool timeframe: <blockquote><tt><tt><tt>Autoconf version 2.60 Dating 2006</tt><tt> </tt><tt>Autoconf version 2.62 Dating 2008</tt><tt> </tt> Automake version 1.10.x Dating 2006 to 2008</tt><tt> </tt><tt> Requires autoconf >= 2.60</tt><tt> </tt><tt>Automake version 1.11.x Dating 2009 to 2012</tt><tt> </tt><tt> Requires autoconf >= 2.62 to >= 2.68</tt> Libtool version 1.5:</tt><tt> </tt><tt>version 1.5 to 1.5.26 Dating 2003 to 2008</tt><tt> </tt><tt> Require autoconf >= 2.50</tt><tt> </tt><tt>Libtool version 2.x</tt><tt>: </tt><tt>version 2.2 to 2.4.2: Dating 2008 to 2011</tt><tt> </tt><tt> Requires autoconf >= 2.59 to >= 2.62</tt><tt> </tt></blockquote> Recommendations <ol> <li>We should prereq libtool 2.2 as a minimum (available since 2008).</li> <li>We should prereq autoconf 2.62 as a minimum (available since 2008). Keeps us in the same time period and is required by automake 1.11.</li> <li>We should prereq automake 1.11 (available since 2009). Keeps us in the same time period. </li> </ol> <blockquote>If the policy is changed, the wiki will be updated. </blockquote> GPLv3 Autoconf licensing still an issue? <blockquote>A couple of years ago, some platforms declared they were unable to ship any software package if it was licensed under GPLv3. This is the case for Autoconf 2.62 and I recall XCB had to rollback to 2.60. Anyone knows if this has been rosolved? Excerpt from <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-devel/2011-June/022724.html">http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-devel/2011-June/022724.html</a> <blockquote><tt>2.61 is the last pure-GPLv2 version</tt><tt> </tt><tt>2.62 is the first version that included GPLv3 tools to build autoconf, but the installed bits were all GPLv2</tt><tt> </tt><tt>2.65 is the first version to be completely GPLv3</tt><tt> </tt><tt> </tt><tt>In order to use 2.62, I would need to build it. In order to build it, I would have to accept GPLv3 (which is not acceptable).</tt><tt> </tt><tt>In order to use 2.65, I would need to accept GPLv3 (which is not acceptable). </tt><tt> </tt><tt>The files generated by autoconf (ie ./configure) are not GPL'd.</tt><tt> </tt></blockquote> </blockquote> </body> </html>