I have a really dumb question.... I'm trying to track down the cause of missing M4 macros like AC_MSG_ERROR after updating M4, Autoconf, Automake and Libtool. All of them were installed in /usr/local. They were installed in the exact order M4, Autoconf, Automake and Libtool. /usr/local is on-path, so all the tools know where everything is. According to this Stack Overflow answer, it could be due to a non-updated pkg-config: https://stackoverflow.com/a/9024469/608639. But according to this comment, installing pkg-config just hides the problem: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/8811381/possibly-undefined-macro-ac-msg-error#comment63407099_9024469 . I don't really understand how new M4 macros from a new installation can go missing. Everything is located in the well known directory, and the directory is on-path. I want to get into a state where things "just work" without parts going missing. I want to reinstall M4, Autoconf, Automake and Libtool. But this time I want to be very explicit since the tools can't seem to find things on their own. Autoconf's 'configure --help' does not discuss how to tell it where M4 macros are (or it is an option I am not connecting to "here are the M4 macros"). My question is, how do I tell Autoconf where the missing macros are? Thanks in advance. **************************************** Here is what I see when looking for the M4 macros. It appears I need to get these wired into Autoconf. $ find /usr/local -name '*.m4' /usr/local/share/libtool/aclocal.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/ltoptions.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/inttypes-pri.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/size_max.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/intdiv0.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/xsize.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/wchar_t.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/progtest.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/po.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/stdint_h.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/extern-inline.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/iconv.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/fcntl-o.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/printf-posix.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lcmessage.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/intl.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/guile.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/uintmax_t.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/ltdl.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/codeset.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/intlmacosx.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/nls.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/ltsugar.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/intldir.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/ltargz.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lib-link.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/gettext.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/inttypes_h.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/libcurl.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/glibc21.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lt~obsolete.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/intmax.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lib-prefix.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/longlong.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/visibility.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/libtool.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/wint_t.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/glibc2.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lock.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/ltversion.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/threadlib.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal/lib-ld.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/depend.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/make.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/prog-cc-c-o.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/init.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/cond-if.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/dmalloc.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/substnot.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/depout.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/maintainer.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/strip.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/missing.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/amversion.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/auxdir.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/options.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/runlog.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/vala.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/sanity.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/gcj.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/obsolete.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/internal/ac-config-macro-dirs.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/python.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/install-sh.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/lead-dot.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/as.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/upc.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/lispdir.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/lex.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/silent.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/cond.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/tar.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/mkdirp.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/ar-lib.m4 /usr/local/share/aclocal-1.15/extra-recurs.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/types.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/c.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoconf.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/libs.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/programs.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/oldnames.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoheader.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/erlang.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/functions.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/lang.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/status.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/autotest.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/fortran.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/go.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/headers.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoupdate.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/autoscan.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/specific.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autoconf/general.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autotest/autotest.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autotest/specific.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/autotest/general.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/m4sugar/m4sh.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/m4sugar/foreach.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/m4sugar/version.m4 /usr/local/share/autoconf/m4sugar/m4sugar.m4 **************************************** Here is Autoconf's configure options. skylake:autoconf-2.69$ ./configure --help `configure' configures GNU Autoconf 2.69 to adapt to many kinds of systems. Usage: ./configure [OPTION]... [VAR=VALUE]... To assign environment variables (e.g., CC, CFLAGS...), specify them as VAR=VALUE. See below for descriptions of some of the useful variables. Defaults for the options are specified in brackets. Configuration: -h, --help display this help and exit --help=short display options specific to this package --help=recursive display the short help of all the included packages -V, --version display version information and exit -q, --quiet, --silent do not print `checking ...' messages --cache-file=FILE cache test results in FILE [disabled] -C, --config-cache alias for `--cache-file=config.cache' -n, --no-create do not create output files --srcdir=DIR find the sources in DIR [configure dir or `..'] Installation directories: --prefix=PREFIX install architecture-independent files in PREFIX [/usr/local] --exec-prefix=EPREFIX install architecture-dependent files in EPREFIX [PREFIX] By default, `make install' will install all the files in `/usr/local/bin', `/usr/local/lib' etc. You can specify an installation prefix other than `/usr/local' using `--prefix', for instance `--prefix=$HOME'. For better control, use the options below. Fine tuning of the installation directories: --bindir=DIR user executables [EPREFIX/bin] --sbindir=DIR system admin executables [EPREFIX/sbin] --libexecdir=DIR program executables [EPREFIX/libexec] --sysconfdir=DIR read-only single-machine data [PREFIX/etc] --sharedstatedir=DIR modifiable architecture-independent data [PREFIX/com] --localstatedir=DIR modifiable single-machine data [PREFIX/var] --libdir=DIR object code libraries [EPREFIX/lib] --includedir=DIR C header files [PREFIX/include] --oldincludedir=DIR C header files for non-gcc [/usr/include] --datarootdir=DIR read-only arch.-independent data root [PREFIX/share] --datadir=DIR read-only architecture-independent data [DATAROOTDIR] --infodir=DIR info documentation [DATAROOTDIR/info] --localedir=DIR locale-dependent data [DATAROOTDIR/locale] --mandir=DIR man documentation [DATAROOTDIR/man] --docdir=DIR documentation root [DATAROOTDIR/doc/autoconf] --htmldir=DIR html documentation [DOCDIR] --dvidir=DIR dvi documentation [DOCDIR] --pdfdir=DIR pdf documentation [DOCDIR] --psdir=DIR ps documentation [DOCDIR] Program names: --program-prefix=PREFIX prepend PREFIX to installed program names --program-suffix=SUFFIX append SUFFIX to installed program names --program-transform-name=PROGRAM run sed PROGRAM on installed program names System types: --build=BUILD configure for building on BUILD [guessed] --host=HOST cross-compile to build programs to run on HOST [BUILD] Optional Packages: --with-PACKAGE[=ARG] use PACKAGE [ARG=yes] --without-PACKAGE do not use PACKAGE (same as --with-PACKAGE=no) --with-lispdir override the default lisp directory Some influential environment variables: M4 Location of GNU M4 1.4.6 or later. Defaults to the first program of `m4', `gm4', or `gnum4' on PATH that meets Autoconf needs. EMACS the Emacs editor command EMACSLOADPATH the Emacs library search path Use these variables to override the choices made by `configure' or to help it to find libraries and programs with nonstandard names/locations. _______________________________________________ Autoconf mailing list Autoconf@xxxxxxx https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/autoconf
