[RFC] X.Org minimum requirements for Autotools policy review

[Gaetan Nadon]

The current Autotools minimum requirements are stated in
http://www.x.org/wiki/ModularDevelopersGuide.

  *     autoconf (2.60)
  *     automake (1.10)
  *     libtool (1.5)

These requirements should be revised periodically. A number of factors
would motivate such a revision:

  * The oldest autotool one can still use today dates from 2003.
  * Some macros we use today have been deprecated for ten years and are
    planned to be removed from future versions of autotools (that are
    now available today).
  * It is nearly impossible for a developer to know if a feature he is
    using today is available in the oldest tool one can use.
  * Our dependencies and newly created modules are coding against what
    is available on their computer and perhaps not even aware of those
    minimum requirements.

    *Package*    *autoconf* ac_prereq   Really needs      *automake*    
    *libtool*
    libdrm              2.63            2.62            1.10         2.2
    mesa          not specified         2.61            1.10         2.2
    libevdev            2.64            2.62            1.11         2.2
    Others              2.60            2.60            1.10         1.5

Current Versions for Autoconf, Automake and Libtool timeframe:

    Autoconf version 2.60        Dating 2006
    Autoconf version 2.62        Dating 2008

    Automake version 1.10.x      Dating 2006 to 2008
                                 Requires autoconf >= 2.60
    Automake version 1.11.x      Dating 2009 to 2012
                                 Requires autoconf >= 2.62 to >= 2.68
    Libtool version 1.5:
    version 1.5 to 1.5.26        Dating 2003 to 2008
                                 Require autoconf >= 2.50
    Libtool version 2.x:
    version 2.2 to 2.4.2:        Dating 2008 to 2011
                                 Requires autoconf >= 2.59 to >= 2.62

Recommendations

 1. We should prereq libtool 2.2 as a minimum (available since 2008).
 2. We should prereq autoconf 2.62 as a minimum (available since 2008).
    Keeps us in the same time period and is required by automake 1.11.
 3. We should prereq automake 1.11 (available since 2009). Keeps us in
    the same time period. 

    If the policy is changed, the wiki will be updated.


GPLv3 Autoconf licensing still an issue?

    A couple of years ago, some platforms declared they were unable to
    ship any software package if it was licensed under GPLv3. This is
    the case for Autoconf 2.62 and I recall XCB had to rollback to 2.60.
    Anyone knows if this has been rosolved?

    Excerpt from
    http://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-devel/2011-June/022724.html

        2.61 is the last pure-GPLv2 version
        2.62 is the first version that included GPLv3 tools to build
        autoconf, but the installed bits were all GPLv2
        2.65 is the first version to be completely GPLv3

        In order to use 2.62, I would need to build it.  In order to
        build it, I would have to accept GPLv3 (which is not acceptable).
        In order to use 2.65, I would need to accept GPLv3 (which is not
        acceptable).
        The files generated by autoconf (ie ./configure) are not GPL'd.




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