TODO 18 KB

123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356357358359360361362363364365366367368369370371372373374375376377378379380381382383384385386387388389390391392393394395396397398399400401402403404405406407408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490491492493494495496497498499500501502503504
  1. the new YFLAGS code doesn't correctly handle srcdir
  2. allow foo_NAME to rename an object (library or program)
  3. at build/install time
  4. remove _LTLIBRARIES and just use _LIBRARIES
  5. then use this for zip/jar as well
  6. add an error if the user makefile.am violates our
  7. namespace rules
  8. we need a document describing automake from the end user's point of view
  9. eg describe INSTALL_HEADER there, among other things
  10. * maintainer-clean
  11. Akim:
  12. > @@ -31,5 +31,9 @@
  13. > DISTCLEAN -test -z "$(DISTCLEANFILES)" || rm -f $(DISTCLEANFILES)
  14. >
  15. > maintainer-clean-generic:
  16. > +## FIXME: shouldn't we really print these messages before running
  17. > +## the dependencies?
  18. > + @echo "This command is intended for maintainers to use"
  19. > + @echo "it deletes files that may require special tools to rebuild."
  20. > -rm -f Makefile.in
  21. Tom:
  22. > I'd like to eventually fix the FIXME comment by having
  23. > maintainer-clean look like:
  24. >
  25. > maintainer-clean:
  26. > @echo ...
  27. > $(MAKE) whatever
  28. >
  29. > We're left with the question of whether we should repeat them in every
  30. > subdir.
  31. *
  32. Alexandre Oliva:
  33. > Hmm... Interesting. It must have been a side effect of the enabling
  34. > of forced `relink' on GNU/Linux/x86. Anyway, on platforms that
  35. > actually require relinking, this problem remains, and I see no way to
  36. > overcome it other than arranging for automake to install libraries
  37. > before executables, as you suggest. This shouldn't be a big problem,
  38. > anyway.
  39. >
  40. > A bigger problem could show up if two libraries in the same directory,
  41. > one dependent on the other, are installed concurrently. If relinking
  42. > is needed for the dependent library, we have a problem. It appears to
  43. > me that user will have to live without `make -j install', in this
  44. > case.
  45. Alex Hornby
  46. > Here's an Automake patch and changelog entry allow make -j install on
  47. > such degenerate systems (and Linux with buggy libtool <g>)
  48. >
  49. > If you install to locations other that bin_ and lib_ then a larger fix
  50. > is necessary, but this should fix the 90% case.
  51. * think about how per-object flags should work. in particular:
  52. * how should they be specified?
  53. using the object name is confusing when .lo/.obj in use
  54. however, the object name provides a nice interaction with
  55. per-exe flags
  56. * how should they interact with per-executable flags?
  57. [ this is probably a feature in search of a problem ]
  58. * cross-compilation support:
  59. programs built and used by the build process need to be
  60. built for CC_FOR_BUILD
  61. introduce a new prefxi for this, e.g. `build_PROGRAMS'
  62. [ we can do this in an automatic way I think.
  63. unfortunately it isn't that useful until autoconf has support
  64. for this sort of thing as well ]
  65. * one performance enhancement would be to have autoconf write
  66. a single file containing all the macro assignments.
  67. then read this file via `include'
  68. unfortunately this can't be done because of conditionals
  69. -- but it could be made to work if we also changed:
  70. * automake to rewrite @FOO@ to $(FOO), and
  71. * the implementation of conditionals to rely on some new
  72. config.status magic
  73. * support prog_LIBS as override for LIBS
  74. * Test subdir-objects option with yacc, lex, ansi2knr
  75. Our locking scheme won't prevent a parallel make from losing
  76. if there are two `bar.o' files and the timing is just right
  77. This only happens with parallel make and no-`-c -o' compiler,
  78. so it probably isn't very important
  79. `-c -o' when doing libtool
  80. try to find a losing compiler and see if it really works.
  81. (actually: hack config.cache and do it)
  82. * per-exe flags
  83. ** LIBOBJS shouldn't be used when there are per-exe flags (?)
  84. * Allow creation of Java .zip/.jar files in natural way
  85. If you are building a compiled Java library, then the .zip/.jar
  86. ought to be made automatically.
  87. * examine possibility of using any character in a macro name
  88. and rewriting names automatically. this means we must rewrite
  89. all references as well.
  90. [ this is a 2.0-style feature ]
  91. * `distcheck' and `dist' should depend on `all'
  92. * Add code to generate foo-config script like gnome, gtk
  93. * document user namespace for macro/target names
  94. adopt some conventions and use uniformly
  95. [ this is a good thing for the rewrite ]
  96. * distclean must remove config.status
  97. can't this cause problems for maintainer-clean?
  98. shouldn't maintainer-clean print the message before running
  99. any part of the make? (just to slow things down long enough
  100. for the user to stop it)
  101. (maybe doesn't matter since people who even know about
  102. maintainer-clean already have a clue)
  103. * reintroduce AM_FUNC_FNMATCH which sets LIBOBJS
  104. Then have automake know about fnmatch.h.
  105. [ probably should wait for autoconf to get right functionality ]
  106. * "make diff" capability
  107. look at gcc's Makefile.in to see what to do
  108. or look at maint program
  109. * in --cygnus, clean-info not generated at top level
  110. * what if an element of a scanned variable looks like
  111. $(FOO).$(BAR) ?
  112. or some other arbitrary thing?
  113. right now we try to cope, but not very well
  114. [ this is only of theoretical interest for now ]
  115. [ We now have an 'inner_expand' option to traverse_recursively,
  116. but it is not yet used. ]
  117. * make sure every variable that is used is also defined
  118. [ we don't really look at variable uses in detail.
  119. 2.0 thing ]
  120. * make sure `missing' defines are generated
  121. * missing should handle install -d and rmdir -p (for uninstall)
  122. * NORMAL_INSTALL / NORMAL_UNINSTALL -vs- recursive rules
  123. [ requires changes to the standard ]
  124. * should not put texiname_TEXINFOS into distribution
  125. should rename this macro anyway, to foo_texi_DEPENDENCIES
  126. * For now I guess I'll just have automake give an error if it encounters
  127. non-C source in a libtool library specification.
  128. * if program has the same name as a target, do something sensible:
  129. - if the target is internal, rename it
  130. - if the target is mandated (eg, "info"), tell the user
  131. consider auto-modifying the program name to work around this
  132. * should separate actual options from strictness levels
  133. strictness should only cover requirements
  134. You should be able to pick and choose options
  135. having just one Makefile for a project would give a big speed increase
  136. for a project with many directories, eg glibc. ideally (?) you'd
  137. still be able to have a Makefile.am in each directory somehow; this
  138. might make editing conceptually easier.
  139. * finish up TAGS work
  140. * only remove libtool at top level?
  141. * clean up source directory by moving stuff into subdirs
  142. * consider adding other variables similar to pkglibexecdir?
  143. requests for pkg-dirs with version included
  144. Avoid loops when installing; instead unroll them in automake
  145. [ Impossible when @AC_SUBST@ values are used. ]
  146. Some long-term projects:
  147. * if $(FOO) is used somewhere, ensure FOO is defined, either by
  148. user or by automake if possible
  149. [ include, += support ]
  150. * even better would be allowing targets in different included
  151. fragments to be merged. e.g., `install-local'.
  152. consider putting all check-* targets onto @check?
  153. take diff-n-query code from libit
  154. Per Bothner says:
  155. Per> 1) Being able to build a set of non-source programs
  156. Per> from source programs, without necessarily linking them together.
  157. Per> I.e. one should be able to say something like:
  158. Per> dummy_SOURCES=foo.c bar.c
  159. Per> and automake should realize that it needs to build foo.o and bar.o.
  160. Per> 2) Being intelligent about new kinds of suffixes.
  161. Per> If it sees:
  162. Per> SUFFIXES = .class .java
  163. Per> and a suffix rule of the form:
  164. Per> .java.class:
  165. Per> then it should be able to realize it can build .class files from
  166. Per> .java files, and thus be able to generate a list of
  167. Per> .class files from a list of .java source files.
  168. [What Per wanted here was a way to have automate automatically follow
  169. suffix rules. So for instance if you had a `.x.y:' rule, and automake
  170. saw a `.x' file, it would automatically build and install the
  171. corresponding `.y' file.]
  172. Jim's idea: should look for @setfilename and warn if filenames too long
  173. * guess split size
  174. from joerg-martin schwarz:
  175. -- If Makefile.am contains $(CC), $(COMPILE), $(YLWRAP), ....
  176. in an explicitly written rule, you should emit the corresponding
  177. Makefile variables automatically.
  178. From the GNU Standards. These things could be checked, and probably
  179. should be if --gnu.
  180. * Make sure that the directory into which the distribution unpacks (as
  181. well as any subdirectories) are all world-writable (octal mode 777).
  182. * Make sure that no file name in the distribution is more than 14
  183. characters long.
  184. * Don't include any symbolic links in the distribution itself.
  185. (ditto hard links)
  186. * Make sure that all the files in the distribution are world-readable.
  187. should be able to determine what is built by looking at rules (and
  188. configure.in). Then built man pages (eg) could automatically be
  189. omitted from the distribution.
  190. Right now, targets generated internally (eg "install") are not
  191. overridable by user code. This should probably be possible, even
  192. though it isn't very important. This could be done by generating all
  193. internal rules via a function call instead of just appending to
  194. $output_rules.
  195. [ this will be harder to implement when scanning a rule like all-recursive
  196. from subdirs.am ]
  197. Other priorities:
  198. * Must rewrite am_install_var. Should break into multiple functions.
  199. This will allow the callers to be a little smarter.
  200. * Rewrite clean targets.
  201. * Fix up require_file junk.
  202. djm wants ``LINKS'' variable; list of things to link together after
  203. install. In BSD environment, use:
  204. LINKS = from1 to1 from2 to2 ...
  205. Need way to say there are no suffixes in a Makefile (Franc,ois'
  206. "override" idea suffices here)
  207. Check to make sure various scripts are executable (IE when looking for
  208. them in a directory)
  209. Add support for html via an option. Use texi2html. Use
  210. "html_TEXINFOS", and htmldir = .../html. Include html files in
  211. distribution. Also allow "html_DATA", for raw .html files.
  212. [ when will texinfo directly support html? ]
  213. See also Karl Berry's message on a roadmap for a "info -> html"
  214. transition:
  215. <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/texinfo-devel/2012-03/msg00018.html>
  216. uninstall and pkg-dirs should rm -rf the dir.
  217. In general most .am files should be merged into automake. For
  218. instance all the "clean" targets could be merged by keeping lists of
  219. things to be removed. This would be a lot nicer looking. Note that
  220. the install targets probably should not be merged; it is sometimes
  221. useful to only install a small part.
  222. * Lex, yacc support:
  223. ** It would be nice to automatically support using bison's better features
  224. to rename the output files. This requires autoconf support
  225. ** Consider supporting syntax from autoconf "derived:source", eg:
  226. y.tab.c:perly.y
  227. for yacc and lex source
  228. ** what if you use flex and the option to avoid -lfl?
  229. should support this?
  230. * Multi-language support:
  231. ** should have mapping of file extensions to languages
  232. ** should automatically handle the linking issue (special-case C++)
  233. ** must get compile rules for various languages; FORTRAN probably
  234. most important unimplemented language
  235. This should be integrated in some way with Per's idea.
  236. Eg .f.o rules should be recognized & auto-handled in _SOURCES
  237. That way any random language can be treated with C/C++ on a first-class
  238. basis (maybe)
  239. It might be cool to generate .texi dependencies by grepping for
  240. @include. (If done, it should be done the same way C dependencies are
  241. done)
  242. [ Ask Karl Berry for a -M option to makeinfo and texi2dvi? ]
  243. It would be good to check some parts of GNU standards. Already check
  244. for install-sh and mkinstalldirs. What else is required to be in
  245. package by GNU standards or by automake?
  246. Some things for --strictness=gnits:
  247. * "cd $(foo); something" is an error in a rule. Should be:
  248. "cd $(foo) && something"
  249. * Look for 'ln -s' and warn about using $(LN_S) and AC_PROG_LN_S
  250. * Look for $(LN_S) and require AC_PROG_LN_S
  251. Auto-distribute "ChangeLog.[0-9]+"? "ChangeLog.[a-z]+"?
  252. Check all source files to make sure that FSF address is up-to-date.
  253. --gnits or --gnu only.
  254. Merge each -vars.am file with corresponding ".am" file. Can do this
  255. because of changes to &file_contents.
  256. Should libexec programs have the name transform done on them?
  257. Order the output rules sensibly, so FOO_SOURCES and FOO_OBJECTS are
  258. together and rules are in the usual order.
  259. djm says:
  260. David> To avoid comments like the one about subdirs getting buried in
  261. David> the middle of a Makefile.in, how about pushing comments that
  262. David> start with ### to the top of the Makefile.in (in order)? Sort
  263. David> of like how Autoconf uses diversions to force initialization
  264. David> code to the top of configure.
  265. ================================================================
  266. Stuff for aclocal:
  267. probably should put each group of m4 files into a subdir owned by the
  268. containing application.
  269. ================================================================
  270. Document:
  271. AM_MISSING_PROG
  272. how to use the generated makefiles
  273. - standard targets
  274. - required targets
  275. - NORMAL_INSTALL junk
  276. rationale for avoiding
  277. make CFLAGS="$CFLAGS" ...
  278. in subdirs make rule
  279. write example of using automake with dejagnu
  280. follow calc example in dejagnu docs
  281. document which variables are actually scanned and which are not.
  282. Document customary ordering of Makefile.am. From François.
  283. Should include extended version of diagram from Autoconf (suggested by
  284. Greg Woods)
  285. Make a definition of the term "source"
  286. document how to use Automake with CVS. Idea from Mark Galassi. Also
  287. include Greg Woods' more sophisticated "cvs-dist" target.
  288. -- must document all variables that are supposed
  289. to be public knowledge
  290. must document the targets required for integration with
  291. non-automake-using subdirs
  292. document the "make SHELL='/bin/sh -x'" trick for debugging
  293. section on relationship to GNU make. include notes on parallel makes
  294. add a concept index
  295. move discussion of cygwin32, etags, mkid under other gnu tools
  296. CCLD, CXXLD, FLD
  297. ================================================================
  298. Libraries:
  299. * Should support standalone library along with subdir library in same
  300. Makefile.am. Maybe: turn off "standalone" mode if library's Makefile.am
  301. is not only one specd? [ add an option for this ]
  302. ================================================================
  303. Longer term:
  304. Would it be useful to integrate in some way with the Debian package
  305. building utility? Must check. maybe it would be possible to deal
  306. with all the different package utilities somehow. Lately I've been
  307. hearing good things about the RedHat packaging utilities. Why are
  308. there so many of these? Are they fun to write or something?
  309. The RedHat package utility is called RPM; see
  310. ftp://ftp.redhat.com/pub/code/rpm
  311. It actually has problems, like no configure script and no documentation.
  312. For Cygnus it would probably be good to be able to handle the native
  313. package utility on each platform. There are probably 3 or 4 of these
  314. (sysv, solaris?, aix?)
  315. tcl/unix/Makefile.in has some code to generate a Solaris package.
  316. Automake probably can't do all of this on its own. A new tool might
  317. be a better idea
  318. I have some notes from a Debian developer on how the integration
  319. should work
  320. ================================================================
  321. A tool to guess what the local Makefile.am should look like:
  322. (see Gord's Maint program!)
  323. * Probably integrate with autoscan
  324. * Use various simple rules to determine what to do:
  325. * get name of top directory, sans version info
  326. * search for .c files with 'main' in them
  327. * if in main.c, use directory name for program
  328. * if in more than one, generate multiple programs
  329. * if not found, generate a library named after directory
  330. * order subdir searches correctly: lib first, src last
  331. * assume 'testsuite' dir means we are using dejagnu
  332. * maybe be smart about reading existing Makefile.am, so tool
  333. can be run for incremental changes? You could imagine:
  334. Makefile.am:
  335. autoproject --incremental
  336. ================================================================
  337. Stuff NOT to do, and why:
  338. consider auto-including any file that matches "*.in".
  339. [ no: po/Makefile.in shouldn't be included ]
  340. must look at mkid to see how it works (for subdir usage)
  341. [ right now, it doesn't. i don't see a simple fix right now ]
  342. if configure.in not found, move up a directory and try again? This
  343. could eliminate a common source of problems.
  344. [ this is just a bad idea ]
  345. * scripts are installed in $exec_prefix/bin, not $prefix/bin
  346. Bug or feature?
  347. [ the consensus on Gnits is that this isn't required.
  348. doubters can work around it anyway ]
  349. Scan source directories and warn about missing files, eg .c/.h files
  350. that aren't mentioned?
  351. [ distcheck makes this less useful ]
  352. * quoting bugs
  353. - how to install file with a space in its name?
  354. [ don't bother with this -- make is just too losing ]
  355. * notice when a .c file is a target somewhere, and auto-add it to
  356. BUILT_SOURCES
  357. [ BUILT_SOURCES are for files that need to be built before anything
  358. else because of hidden dependencies (something .c files are
  359. unlikely to be) ]
  360. * Scan multiple input files when Makefile is generated?
  361. This would provide flexibility for large projects; subsumes
  362. the "Makefile.tmpl" idea
  363. [ can't do this. must explain why in manual.
  364. basically, solving all the problems is too hard
  365. like: how to remove redundancies between generated .in files
  366. instead should implement `include' directive for Makefile.am ]
  367. * Should be a way to have "nobuild_PROGRAMS" which aren't even built,
  368. but which could be by running the magic make command.
  369. [ We already have EXTRA_PROGRAMS for this. ]
  370. * copyright notice
  371. Copyright 1994-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
  372. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
  373. it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
  374. the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
  375. any later version.
  376. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
  377. but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
  378. MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
  379. GNU General Public License for more details.
  380. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
  381. along with this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
  382. Local Variables:
  383. mode: outline
  384. End: