Re: [PATCH RFA] bfd/configure.in, bfd/configure

[Ian Lance Taylor <ian at zembu dot com>]

   Date: Mon, 3 Apr 2000 16:10:31 -0700
   From: Kevin Buettner <kevinb@cygnus.com>

   I fetched, built, and installed autoconf-000227.tar.bz2 from the
   location you mention above.

   When I do ``autoconf --version'', this version claims that it is
   still 2.13 (as opposed to 2.13.1).  Moreover, when I regenerate
   configure using this version of autoconf, the result is identical
   to the one that I generated with the ``2.13'' version that I've
   been using from Cygnus' internal repository.

Version numbers of development snapshots are meaningless.  The only
sources which can be properly described as 2.13 are the ones from the
official GNU site.  There is no single set of sources which can be
described as 2.13.1.  I've forgotten why 2.13.1 even entered the
picture.

Binutils maintainers use a fairly random set of autoconf sources to
regenerate the configure scripts, typically what ever happens to be
installed on their system.  This normally doesn't matter much.
However, there is only one official set of sources: the ones from
ftp://sourceware.cygnus.com/binutils.

So while what you describe is fairly horrifying from a configuration
management point of view, I don't find anything you say surprising or
unexpected.

Ian