Re: Please test autoreconf from zack/autoreconf-exclude branch

On Mon, 2026-03-09 at 19:03 +0100, Bruno Haible via Discussion list for
the autoconf build system wrote:
> Zack Weinberg wrote:
> > > Why implement a new option for this, instead of using the
> > > existing
> > > environment variables which have been supported by autoreconf
> > > since 2001?
> >=20
> > Discoverability.=C2=A0 If someone's having a problem with autoreconf
> > running
> > something it shouldn't, and they look at autoreconf --help, the --
> > exclude
> > option will be right there.=C2=A0 The --help text does also mention the
> > environment variables, but they're described as a way to control
> > *what
> > command* is run
>=20
> +1. The first time I saw someone use
>=20
> =C2=A0 AUTOPOINT=3Dtrue autoreconf
>=20
> as a way to tell autoreconf not to invoke 'autopoint', I found it
> strange. The --exclude option definitely will lead to more
> understandable shell scripts and build recipes.

I'd also add that it is easy to read AUTOPOINT=3Dtrue as "enable
autopoint", which is the exact opposite of what it does.

Setting the utilities to true/false binaries is a clever/cute way to do
it but not really very obvious/understandable and the new option is way
better IMO as it is clear and obvious.

Cheers,

Richard