Re: Cannot build GD with autoconf 2.57

On Mar 27, 2007, at 11:01 AM, Nathan Vander Wilt wrote:

> I'm  trying to build GD (2.0.34 and 2.0.35RC1) on some old version  
> of RedHat or Fedora I'm forced to use at work.
>
> After running:
>   ./configure --prefix=/home/nvanderwilt/devlib/
> I run:
>   make
> which results in the following error:
>
> cd . && /bin/sh /home/nvanderwilt/gd-2.0.35RC1/config/missing --run  
> autoheader
> configure.ac:28: error: Autoconf version 2.58 or higher is required
> aclocal.m4:7856: AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE is expanded from...
> configure.ac:28: the top level
> autom4te: /usr/bin/m4 failed with exit status: 1
> autoheader: /usr/bin/autom4te failed with exit status: 1
> make: *** [config.hin] Error 1
>
>
> I'm rubbish when it comes to Makefiles and autoconf, but I found a  
> tip on a forum that suggested I try:
>   autoreconf -f -i
>
> which leads to several errors of "require version 1.7, but have 1.6.3"
>

In a stunning turn of events, I was able to get GD to compile, using  
that tip plus a little hacking on the "Makefile.am"s.

Starting with a fresh package:

STEP 1: (patch three Makefile.am files)
I first had to change "AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.7" to  
"AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign 1.6" In these files:
Makefile.am
test/Makefile.am
config/Makefile.am

STEP 2: (run autoreconf and ignore its error)
then I ran:
autoreconf -f -i
...which still complained:
   configure.ac:29: `automake requires `AM_CONFIG_HEADER', not  
`AC_CONFIG_HEADER'
   autoreconf: automake failed with exit status: 1"

STEP 3: (business as usual)
but when I now run:
./configure --prefix=/home/nvanderwilt/devlib
make
make install

It works, hooray!!!

>
> Also, could the makefiles be fixed to be more compatible?

Why did my hack work?
It'd be great if someone who understands what I really did in steps 1  
and 2 would fix the package so that its not necessary to patch up the  
files and run autoreconf. I'm just a "script kiddie" when it comes to  
Makefiles, much less configure scripts and /automatic/ configure  
scripts.

thanks,
-natevw