Re: [PATCH][gdb/build] Add gdb/contrib/makeinfo-dummy.sh

[Simon Marchi <simark@simark.ca>]

On 9/1/22 10:58, Tom de Vries via Gdb-patches wrote:
> On 9/1/22 16:43, Simon Marchi wrote:
>> On 9/1/22 05:51, Tom de Vries via Gdb-patches wrote:
>>> Hi,
>>>
>>> Currently, we cannot build gdb without makeinfo installed.
>>>
>>> It would be convenient to work around this by using the configure flag
>>> MAKEINFO=/usr/bin/true or some such, but that doesn't work because top-level
>>> configure requires a makeinfo of at least version 4.7, and that version check
>>> fails for /usr/bin/true, so we end up with MAKEINFO=missing instead.
>>>
>>> Work around this by adding a script gdb/contrib/makeinfo-dummy.sh that can be
>>> used instead, like so:
>>> ...
>>> $ ./src/configure MAKEINFO=$src/gdb/contrib/makeinfo-dummy.sh
>>> ...
>>>
>>> The script merely prints the version string that satisfies the version check
>>> in $src/configure.
>>>
>>> Tested on x86_64-linux, with makeinfo removed.
>>>
>>> Any comments?
>>
>> I wouldn't mind having this if it helps you.  This file would probably
>> belong in $top_level/contrib more than $top_level/gdb/contrib.
>>
>
> Hi Simon,
>
> thanks for the review.
>
> Agreed, but does that also mean submitting to gcc-patches instead?  All the other scripts in <binutils-gdb>/contrib seems to be copies from <gcc>/contrib.

IMO, it would be fine to add a file like this just in binutils-gdb, and
if someone wants it in gcc they can copy it there.  When making changes
to files existing in both repos, then yeah it's better to involve gcc to
so that they stay in sync.

>
>> Just in case that would work for you, in this case I have been using:
>>
>>    $ ./configure
>>    $ make MAKEINFO=/bin/true
>>
>> and that worked fine so far.
>
> I see, I suppose that'll work as well, I didn't think of that.
>
> I guess it matters more for me to have a documented way of dealing with this, than some specific solution.  I ran into this today, knew I worked around this before, but didn't remember how.  I'm hoping that having this file in the repo will be something that is easy to find back and  use.
>
> It would be possible to handle 'true' in the toplevel configure, which would make configure MAKEINFO=true work, but that would have to go past gcc-patches review, and I'm not sure if it's worth the effort to try this, given my suspicion that it will not be accepted.

Also more efforts, but what we would want is a --disable-doc or
--without-makeinfo configure switch, I think.

Simon