This option was added last year in commit http://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/xserver/commit/?id=d8937ce58137ad675f1ead8f2345eaed0ca63c8a apparently to solve a build issue from tarballs: "which fixes running it from tarballs". The xserver module is the only one of all xorg to use this option. It is not required to correctly build the xserver. In general, autoreconf works well when a configuration file is changed and reconfigures accordingly. The file autogen.sh is not used for building from tarballs, so it should not have any influence over building tarballs. A second issue is that autogen.sh is included in the distribution while it shouldn't. FYI, there is a total of 18 components in 6 modules that ship autogen.sh (in EXTRA_DIST). If the --force option is required as a workaround, I'll be happy to comment both the problem and the workaround in autogen.sh. Otherwise a patch is provided to remove the option. Unless there is a reason to distribute autogen.sh, a patch is provided to remove it from the makefile.
Created attachment 29873 [details] [review] [PATCH] autogen.sh: remove --force option from autoreconf
Created attachment 29874 [details] [review] [PATCH] Makefile.am: do not distribute autogen.sh #24178
So I'm having some trouble understanding this.. > If the --force option is required as a workaround, I'll be happy to comment > both the problem and the workaround in autogen.sh. Otherwise a patch is > provided to remove the option. > what's the actual problem that removing --force fixes? > Unless there is a reason to distribute autogen.sh, a patch is provided to > remove it from the makefile. > similarly, what's wrong with having it in the tarball?
(In reply to comment #3) > So I'm having some trouble understanding this.. > > > If the --force option is required as a workaround, I'll be happy to comment > > both the problem and the workaround in autogen.sh. Otherwise a patch is > > provided to remove the option. > > > what's the actual problem that removing --force fixes? None that I can find. Came to my attention while investigating excessive rebuilds. There is a claim that it was put there to fix a problem. If that is really the case, the same problem may be on other components as well. I'd like to come to a closure on this, either way. > > > Unless there is a reason to distribute autogen.sh, a patch is provided to > > remove it from the makefile. > > > similarly, what's wrong with having it in the tarball? We should distribute only what we intend to distribute. There could be legal issues when a file is unintentionally distributed and not properly licensed. There is also a need for consistency, either all tarballs have it or they don't. > Thanks for your comments
Comment on attachment 29874 [details] [review] [PATCH] Makefile.am: do not distribute autogen.sh #24178 The distribution of autogen.sh issue is now the subject of a separate bug report #24183
Reading on Automake, the --force will regenerated macros and auxiliaries scripts like install.sh and others in case the version of Automake would have changed. This option is useful for developers who upgrade the build tools mid-air. It's not useful for distribution when everything is built from scratch. However there is a performance cost. On my box it's 35% slower to reconfigure with -f. But if you don't build from the top, you are not affected. Speed vs safety. It is useless and misleading to have this option only one component and not on the other 267. In the tool upgrade scenario, it would lead to an inconsistent build. I still think it should be removed. I'll wait some more for other opinions.
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