Re: Bug: textutils-2.1 break, if you "touch" it

Hello Jim,

Thanks for the pointer to coreutils. I tried the same test on coreutils 
and it gave me the similar error. This issue prevents anyone to  put the 
coreutils code under CVS(source control) or changing timestaps of some 
file (unless you have the same version as specified in coreutils, 
neither old or new)

I will appreciate if I can get a pointer to a file, which says, which 
files not to "touch" to avoid this issue or how to configure coreutils 
with your autoconf/automake, etc

Thanks,
Nitin

Steps to reproduce the problem.
1. tar -xzvf coreutils-5.0.tar.gz
2. cd coreutils-5.0
3. ./configure; make
works fine....
4. rm -rf coreutils-5.0
5. repeat steps 1,2
6. touch -r *
7. step 3
Error message:
cd . && /bin/sh /h/users/gupta/project/ext/coreutils-5.0/config/missing 
--run aclocal-1.7 -I m4
cd . && \
  /bin/sh /h/users/gupta/project/ext/coreutils-5.0/config/missing --run 
automake-1.7 --gnits  Makefile
configure.ac:31: error: Autoconf version 2.56 or higher is required
aclocal.m4:1064: jm_MACROS is expanded from...
configure.ac:31: the top level
autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
configure.ac: `AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE' must be used
automake-1.7: your implementation of AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE comes from an
automake-1.7: old Automake version.  You should recreate aclocal.m4
automake-1.7: with aclocal and run automake again.
configure.ac: required file `./install-sh' not found
configure.ac: required file `./mkinstalldirs' not found
configure.ac: required file `./missing' not found
automake-1.7: version `' doesn't follow Gnits standards
make: *** [Makefile.in] Error 1


Jim Meyering wrote:

>Nitin Gupta <[email protected]> wrote:
>  
>
>>I downloaded textutils-2.1.tar.gz from gnu website.
>>
>>I was trying to build textutils for our processor. I saved textutils
>>under CVS source control (which apparently changed the timestamps of
>>    
>>
>
>textutils-2.1 is getting old.
>You're not the first to make the mistake of getting/using it.[*]
>I suggest that you use the coreutils, not the textutils.
>
>  ftp://alpha.gnu.org/gnu/coreutils/coreutils-5.0.90.tar.bz2
>  (coreutils is the union of fileutils, textutils, and sh-utils)
>
>The latest sources are available via CVS here:
>
>  http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/coreutils/
>
>If you need to check things into your own repository, or otherwise
>change timestamps, then you should to get recent versions of tools
>like autoconf, automake, and bison.
>
>Jim
>
>[*] There is still at least one GNU web page
>
>   http://www.gnu.org/directory/GNU/textutils.html
>
>that describes the textutils without mentioning that
>that package has been superseded by the coreutils.
>Unfortunately, I haven't yet found out how to update that page.
>
>  
>

-- 
-NI+IN