why does php support 'only' out-of-date/obsolete versions of automake/autoconf?

php.internals

OpenMacNews

19 years ago
php52-cvs' "INSTALL" states: "autoconf 2.13 and automake 1.4+ are required (newer versions of autoconf may work, but are not supported)" @ distrowatch, distros haven't shipped for ages with automake 1.4. automake 1.4 was released: 14-Jan-1999 current/stable automake (v1.9.6) was released: 10-Jul-2005 (1) why has this not been updated to more recent/shipped/released versions ? is there a legit reason? (2) what needs to happen to get this updated? who leads the charge?

Ilia A.

19 years ago
PHP works just fine with newer version of autoconf and automake. For example I am using autoconf 2.60 and automake 1.9.6 and not experiencing any build issues. One of the reasons we recommend autoconf 2.13 is because it has a non-broken implementation of config test caching and unlike autoconf 2.60 does not require re-running of every configuration test on PHP rebuild. On 6-Oct-06, at 1:17 PM, OpenMacNews wrote:
> php52-cvs' "INSTALL" states: > > "autoconf 2.13 and automake 1.4+ are required (newer versions of > autoconf may work, but are not supported)" > > @ distrowatch, distros haven't shipped for ages with automake 1.4. > > automake 1.4 was released: 14-Jan-1999 > current/stable automake (v1.9.6) was released: 10-Jul-2005 > > (1) why has this not been updated to more recent/shipped/released > versions ? is there a legit reason? > > (2) what needs to happen to get this updated? who leads the charge? > > -- > PHP Internals - PHP Runtime Development Mailing List > To unsubscribe, visit: http://www.php.net/unsub.php > >
Ilia Alshanetsky

OpenMacNews

19 years ago
hi ilia,
> PHP works just fine with newer version of autoconf and automake. For > example I am using autoconf 2.60 and automake 1.9.6 and not > experiencing any build issues. One of the reasons we recommend > autoconf 2.13 is because it has a non-broken implementation of config > test caching and unlike autoconf 2.60 does not require re-running of > every configuration test on PHP rebuild.
yes, i know it "works" fine :-) in fact, i personally build/use php 52cvs with: autoconf (GNU Autoconf) 2.60 automake (GNU automake) 1.9.6 on my osx 10.4.8 box. the problem is that *other* php-related projects' code breaks with recent versions of automake. of course, i 1st tried to talk to the project's developer about the issue. the response was, roughly, that -- since php "only supports automake 1.4" that they'll only support v1.4. which is all fine & good -- except when the developer of the 'other' project is also ON the php-development team as well. in response to questions abt this @ #php, one dev's response -- probably very accurate -- is that this is the case because "autoconf issues are boring to work on". one great big catch-22 :-(