Configure Scripts and Porting: Configure Script Test Issues in INTERIX 2.2 and OPENNT 2.1 (246379)

MORE INFORMATION

The Autoconf 2.12 program is a package of m4 scripts that produce a script called a configure script. The configure script uses a number of tests to check for the presence or absence of a specified feature, and many of them involve small programs that are then run through the C preprocessor or compiled. The feature test is generally based on the output of the C preprocessor or driver rather than on execution of the test program.

INTERIX 2.2 and OPENNT 2.1 issues:

• Some APIs are provided as macros. For example, herror() is an alias for perror(). Tests checking for those APIs as functions will fail.
• Many configure scripts contain hard-coded paths that do not take into account the multi-volume nature of the Microsoft Windows NT file system.

OPENNT 2.0 issues:

• The OPENNT cc script fails many tests because it writes needless output. Even though the program compiled, configure interprets it as failing. The updated version of cc/c89 from Softway Systems, Inc., fixes this issue.
• Tests running the C preprocessor fail because /lib/cpp does not exist. There is a port of cpp for use by imake in the directory $INTERIX_ROOT/sr/contrib but it should not be used. It will not define macros such as _ALL_SOURCE, which provides an historical UNIX environment.

For additional information on configure script issues with INTERIX, see http://www.interix.com/NewInterix/technotes/note0007.html.