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Revision as of 14:49, 11 February 2021 by Odubaj (talk | contribs)


Autoconf-2.71

Summary

Autoconf upgrade from version 2.69 to the last upstream version 2.71 in Fedora.

Owner

Current status

  • Targeted release: Fedora 35
  • Last updated: 2021-02-11
  • FESCo issue: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
  • Tracker bug: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>
  • Release notes tracker: <will be assigned by the Wrangler>

Detailed Description

Upgrading autoconf from version 2.69 to version 2.71 according to new upstream release. Version 2.70 is skipped due to multiple ABI incompatibilities, where some of them were fixed in version 2.71. Years of development differ these two releases, so problems are expected.

This change might easily cause fails during builds of multiple packages, as some of them still require autoconf-2.69. This step must be properly discussed with maintainers of dependent packages, which should forward this change proposal to their upstream projects.

Feedback

Benefit to Fedora

Brings a stable and up-to-date version of autoconf according to upsteam release. It is expected, that in the future many upstream development teams will use autoconf-2.71 as their default builder, so Fedora will be prepared for such a step.

Scope

  • Proposal owners:
  • Other developers:
    • Check if their packages can be build with autoconf-2.71
  • Release engineering: #Releng issue number
  • Policies and guidelines: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Trademark approval: N/A (not needed for this Change)
  • Alignment with Objectives:

Upgrade/compatibility impact

Problems during build can appear in multiple packages what can lead to build failure, as multiple packages require autoconf-2.69 as their upstream dependency. These problems have to be resolved before adding autoconf-2.71 into Fedora. It seems aprox. 20% of dependent packages are having problems during build, which could be caused by a problem with same pattern.

How To Test

Rebuilding your packages with autoconf-2.71 dependency in copr (https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/odubaj/autoconf-2.70/).

Mass rebuild of dependent packages in a side tag.

User Experience

Users will be able to use the newer version (2.71) of autoconf, and building packages with autoconf-2.69 won't be available, as it won't be present on the specific fedora version. This can affect 3rd partly packages, which are not part of Fedora.

Dependencies

Hundreds of packages have build dependency on autoconf, therefore it is a huge step forward for Fedora, what should be properly discussed and tested. List of dependent packages with their ability to be built with autoconf-2.71 can be found in the given copr project (https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/odubaj/autoconf-2.70/packages/)

We should also look at dependent packages of libtool and automake (other critical autotools packages), as there might be some incompatibilities with the new autoconf version.

Contingency Plan

  • Contingency mechanism: moving this change to Fedora 36, if not successfully finished until Fedora 35 branching from Rawhide
  • Contingency deadline: Fedora 35 branching from Rawhide (2021-08-10)
  • Blocks release? No

Documentation

Latest autoconf documentation: https://www.gnu.org/savannah-checkouts/gnu/autoconf/manual/autoconf-2.70/index.html

Release Notes

Release notes for autoconf-2.70: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autotools-announce/2020-12/msg00001.html

Release notes for autoconf-2.71: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autotools-announce/2021-01/msg00000.html

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