openssh unix dev - Apr 2021 - [PATCH] Use AC_SUBST_FILE to replace @DEPEND@ with contents of .depend

AC_SUBST_FILE[0] is similar to AC_SUBST, but instead of replacing
a variable with its value, it replaces a variable with the contents
of the file named by the value. This is exactly what we want in
order to insert the contents of .depend at the end of the Makefile.

Using AC_SUBST for this purpose poses some problems if $as_echo
involves running an external command (i.e. printf is not built-in),
in which case the size of .depend may exceed the operating system's
argument size limit. In particular, since autoconf 2.70, $as_echo
no longer uses `print -r` on ksh shells[1], causing the following
message when creating config.log on Linux with oksh:

  ./configure: printf: Argument list too long

AC_SUBST_FILE requires the substitution string to be on its own
line, so drop the unneeded leading comment (the first line of .depend
has a '#' of its own).

[0]
https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/html_node/Setting-Output-Variables.html
[1]
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=autoconf.git;a=commitdiff;h=2b59b6f8a79b8bf77e178ff4e5aa0ede433d39cf;hp=bea5177adc0c924fe7483509a5e38a6d49319fcb
---
Note that I only get this error if I manually generate configure
from a git clone since the distributed tarballs used autoconf-2.69.
It also seems that the error only affects the contents of config.log,
not the Makefile (which is processed with an awk script).

 Makefile.in  | 2 +-
 configure.ac | 3 ++-
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index b749206d..4710c2fe 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -772,4 +772,4 @@ package: $(CONFIGFILES) $(MANPAGES) $(TARGETS)
 		sh buildpkg.sh; \
 	fi
 
-# @DEPEND@
+ at DEPEND@
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 1c2757ca..af2379df 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -5442,7 +5442,8 @@ AC_SUBST([TEST_SSH_IPV6], [$TEST_SSH_IPV6])
 AC_SUBST([TEST_SSH_UTF8], [$TEST_SSH_UTF8])
 AC_SUBST([TEST_MALLOC_OPTIONS], [$TEST_MALLOC_OPTIONS])
 AC_SUBST([UNSUPPORTED_ALGORITHMS], [$unsupported_algorithms])
-AC_SUBST([DEPEND], [$(cat $srcdir/.depend)])
+AC_SUBST_FILE([DEPEND])
+DEPEND=$srcdir/.depend
 
 CFLAGS="${CFLAGS} ${CFLAGS_AFTER}"
 LDFLAGS="${LDFLAGS} ${LDFLAGS_AFTER}"
-- 
2.30.1

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021, Michael Forney wrote:
> argument size limit. In particular, since autoconf 2.70, $as_echo
> no longer uses `print -r` on ksh shells[1], causing the following
> message when creating config.log on Linux with oksh:
> 
>   ./configure: printf: Argument list too long
What? Whose stupid idea was *that*?
> [1]
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=autoconf.git;a=commitdiff;h=2b59b6f8a79b8bf77e178ff4e5aa0ede433d39cf;hp=bea5177adc0c924fe7483509a5e38a6d49319fcb
Dear GNU autoconf developer,

please keep using print -r -- if $KSH_VERSION is not unset/empty.
This is *much* faster and more reliable. (Also, print -nr -- to
omit the trailing newline.)

Thanks,
//mirabilos (developer of mksh)

On 2021-04-18, Michael Forney <mforney at mforney.org>
wrote:
> AC_SUBST_FILE[0] is similar to AC_SUBST, but instead of replacing
> a variable with its value, it replaces a variable with the contents
> of the file named by the value. This is exactly what we want in
> order to insert the contents of .depend at the end of the Makefile.
>
> Using AC_SUBST for this purpose poses some problems if $as_echo
> involves running an external command (i.e. printf is not built-in),
> in which case the size of .depend may exceed the operating system's
> argument size limit. In particular, since autoconf 2.70, $as_echo
> no longer uses `print -r` on ksh shells[1], causing the following
> message when creating config.log on Linux with oksh:
>
>   ./configure: printf: Argument list too long
>
> AC_SUBST_FILE requires the substitution string to be on its own
> line, so drop the unneeded leading comment (the first line of .depend
> has a '#' of its own).
>
> [0]
>
https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/html_node/Setting-Output-Variables.html
> [1]
>
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=autoconf.git;a=commitdiff;h=2b59b6f8a79b8bf77e178ff4e5aa0ede433d39cf;hp=bea5177adc0c924fe7483509a5e38a6d49319fcb
Ping on this patch.

On 2021-06-24, Michael Forney <mforney at mforney.org>
wrote:
> On 2021-04-18, Michael Forney <mforney at mforney.org> wrote:
>> AC_SUBST_FILE[0] is similar to AC_SUBST, but instead of replacing
>> a variable with its value, it replaces a variable with the contents
>> of the file named by the value. This is exactly what we want in
>> order to insert the contents of .depend at the end of the Makefile.
>>
>> Using AC_SUBST for this purpose poses some problems if $as_echo
>> involves running an external command (i.e. printf is not built-in),
>> in which case the size of .depend may exceed the operating system's
>> argument size limit. In particular, since autoconf 2.70, $as_echo
>> no longer uses `print -r` on ksh shells[1], causing the following
>> message when creating config.log on Linux with oksh:
>>
>>   ./configure: printf: Argument list too long
>>
>> AC_SUBST_FILE requires the substitution string to be on its own
>> line, so drop the unneeded leading comment (the first line of .depend
>> has a '#' of its own).
>>
>> [0]
>>
https://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/manual/html_node/Setting-Output-Variables.html
>> [1]
>>
http://git.savannah.gnu.org/gitweb/?p=autoconf.git;a=commitdiff;h=2b59b6f8a79b8bf77e178ff4e5aa0ede433d39cf;hp=bea5177adc0c924fe7483509a5e38a6d49319fcb
>
> Ping on this patch.
Any concerns with this patch? I thought it would be fairly
uncontroversial since it uses the autoconf macro designed exactly for
this purpose.

On Sun, 18 Apr 2021, Michael Forney wrote:
> AC_SUBST_FILE[0] is similar to AC_SUBST, but instead of replacing
> a variable with its value, it replaces a variable with the contents
> of the file named by the value. This is exactly what we want in
> order to insert the contents of .depend at the end of the Makefile.
> 
> Using AC_SUBST for this purpose poses some problems if $as_echo
> involves running an external command (i.e. printf is not built-in),
> in which case the size of .depend may exceed the operating system's
> argument size limit. In particular, since autoconf 2.70, $as_echo
> no longer uses `print -r` on ksh shells[1], causing the following
> message when creating config.log on Linux with oksh:
> 
>   ./configure: printf: Argument list too long
> 
> AC_SUBST_FILE requires the substitution string to be on its own
> line, so drop the unneeded leading comment (the first line of .depend
> has a '#' of its own).
I actually have a few workflows that run make against the Makefile.in
(e.g. generating cat format manpages as part of release) and these
break with @DEPEND@ on it's own, uncommented line. I'll need to adjust
these before merging this.

It's unfortunate that AC_SUBST_FILE has the whole-line restriction
whereas AC_SUBST does not :(

-d