Can't autoreconf when building from source

[darlo-me]

Describe the bug

When running ./bootstrap.sh (or autoreconf -f), I get this error message:

autoreconf-2.69: Entering directory `.'
autoreconf-2.69: configure.ac: not using Gettext
autoreconf-2.69: running: aclocal --force 
autoreconf-2.69: configure.ac: tracing
autoreconf-2.69: configure.ac: not using Libtool
autoreconf-2.69: running: /usr/bin/autoconf-2.69 --force
configure.ac:118: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_MSG_ERROR
      If this token and others are legitimate, please use m4_pattern_allow.
      See the Autoconf documentation.
autoreconf-2.69: /usr/bin/autoconf-2.69 failed with exit status: 1

It seems installing autoconf-archive fixes the issue

Steps To Reproduce

curl https://nixos.org/releases/nix/nix-2.3.6/nix-2.3.6.tar.xz > nix-2.3.6.tar.xz
tar -xvf nix-2.3.6.tar.xz
cd nix-2.3.6
./bootstrap.sh

Expected behavior

Clearer error (install autoconf-archive) or documentation (mention it in the manual)

Additional context

I encountered this issue while trying to install the gentoo ebuild (https://github.com/trofi/nix-guix-gentoo)

Similar bug mentioned here: #3154 (comment)

[trofi]

Looking at aclocal run I think it means release tarball lacks 3 m4 files:

$ aclocal -I m4/ --install
aclocal-1.16: installing 'm4//ax_boost_base.m4' from '/usr/share/aclocal/ax_boost_base.m4'
aclocal-1.16: installing 'm4//ax_require_defined.m4' from '/usr/share/aclocal/ax_require_defined.m4'
aclocal-1.16: installing 'm4//pkg.m4' from '/usr/share/aclocal/pkg.m4'

[edolstra]

./bootstrap.sh is only for building from a Git tree. When building from a tarball, ./configure should be sufficient. BTW we'll stop doing tarball releases for Nix >= 2.4.

[trofi]

Sometimes configure.ac has to be patched downstream. To regenerate configure from patched configure.ac all .m4 files has to already present in tarball. Be it used by ./bootstrap.sh or by manual autoconf run.

BTW we'll stop doing tarball releases for Nix >= 2.4.

How nix would be installed on users' systems in that case?

[stale]

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info

[trofi]

Sometimes configure.ac has to be patched downstream. To regenerate configure from patched configure.ac all .m4 files has to already present in tarball. Be it used by ./bootstrap.sh or by manual autoconf run.

BTW we'll stop doing tarball releases for Nix >= 2.4.

How nix would be installed on users' systems in that case?

Was clarified in #5308 (review). Git tags will still be present and autoconf-archive will be a required build-time depend.

[stale]

I marked this as stale due to inactivity. → More info