[libvirt] Bootstrap fail, but non-useful message :/

[Justin Clift]

Hi Eric,

Just ran ./autogen.sh on an OSX box with only the system provided
autotools installed, and got this:

************************************************************************************
Copying file po/remove-potcdate.sin
./bootstrap: patching m4/gettext.m4 to remove need for intl/* ...
./bootstrap: glibtoolize -c -f ...
glibtoolize: putting auxiliary files in AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, `build-aux'.
glibtoolize: copying file `build-aux/ltmain.sh'
glibtoolize: putting macros in AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR, `m4'.
glibtoolize: copying file `m4/libtool.m4'
glibtoolize: copying file `m4/ltoptions.m4'
glibtoolize: copying file `m4/ltsugar.m4'
glibtoolize: copying file `m4/ltversion.m4'
glibtoolize: copying file `m4/lt~obsolete.m4'
./bootstrap: aclocal -I gnulib/m4 --force -I m4  ...
configure.ac:13: warning: macro `AM_SILENT_RULES' not found in library
./bootstrap: autoconf --force ...
configure.ac:60: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_MSG_ERROR
      If this token and others are legitimate, please use m4_pattern_allow.
      See the Autoconf documentation.
configure.ac:512: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_MSG_NOTICE
configure.ac:627: error: possibly undefined macro: PKG_CHECK_MODULES
Failed to bootstrap, please investigate.
$
************************************************************************************

This system is using the "MacPorts" packaging system instead of Homebrew.

The problem was easy enough to resolve by installing the newer autoconf
and automake MacPorts provides.

But, I'm concerned about the less-than-helpful error message given here.

Isn't the bootstrap supposed to detect the required versions of things (as specified
in the .conf file), and inform us clearly if they're not found?

Regards and best wishes,

Justin Clift