# autoconf question



## Ashish (Nov 6, 2009)

Hi there. I am a newbie to the freebsd/unix world. I am running FreeBSD 7.2, and I am trying to build PostgreSQL from cvs source tree.

To do that I am required to run autoconf, but it wants autoconf-2.63, whereas I have autoconf-2.62. I thought I'll get the new version from the ports but the ports has autoconf-2.62.

What are my options here? How do I get autoconf 2.63 on my system? My guess is that if I download it from the autoconf site (http://www.gnu.org/software/autoconf/) and use that there might be some incompatibilities with freebsd?

Thanks
Ashish


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## dennylin93 (Nov 6, 2009)

Just install PostgreSQL from Ports. There are many versions available.


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## Ashish (Nov 6, 2009)

Unfortunately that is not an option. I need to work directly with the postgreSQL source code.


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 6, 2009)

Run 'make extract' in a port, and there it is


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## Ashish (Nov 6, 2009)

DutchDaemon said:
			
		

> Run 'make extract' in a port, and there it is



That is an interesting option but round about approach. I do want to work directly on the source control. Is is possible to port autoconf 2.63 to freebsd?


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## DutchDaemon (Nov 6, 2009)

I guess only the current maintainer (ade@) can answer this, or you could try freebsd-ports (http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-ports).


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## Ashish (Nov 6, 2009)

Thanks to everyone to took the time to reply. The problem is now resolved. I guess it was a neophyte mistake on my part 

I had posted on the postgres list as well, and I learnt that I could run ./Configure without having to run autoconf.


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## graudeejs (Nov 6, 2009)

what are you actually trying to do?


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## Ashish (Nov 7, 2009)

killasmurf86 said:
			
		

> what are you actually trying to do?



What I am really trying to do is to learn Unix (FreeBSD) and also get involved in the postgresql project.  

I had learnt about make but had no clue about configure/autoconf so when make told me I need to configure I "thought" I need to run autoconf.


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## kdemidofff (May 1, 2010)

*autoconf-2.63*

its easy to make build.. but it breaks some dependency. u can use it when installing some source that needs it, after u can uninstall it and replace with old 2.62 to satisfy portupgrade. why major utilities still not in FreeBSD ports tree? 
Answers to use pre-built source is funny.


```
wget [url]http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/autoconf/autoconf-2.63.tar.gz[/url]
gtar xzf autoconf-2.63.tar.gz
cd autoconf-2.63
CC=gcc CFLAGS=-O2 EMACS=no ./configure --mandir=/usr/local/man
make
make check
make install
#make distclean
```


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## martino (Aug 14, 2010)

The correct course of action will not be:

tar xzf autoconf-2.63.tar.gz
cd autoconf-2.63
mkdir build
cd build
../configure --mandir=/usr/local/man --program-suffix=-2.63 --without-lispdir --datarootdir=/usr/local/share/autoconf-2.63

for autoconf-wrapper links/dependencies preservation?


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## martino (Aug 14, 2010)

martino said:
			
		

> The correct course of action will not be:
> 
> tar xzf autoconf-2.63.tar.gz
> cd autoconf-2.63
> ...



oops 
tar *-*xzf autoconf-2.63.tar.gz of course..


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## camelia (Aug 14, 2010)

I think it's easier to just hack the port, e.g. autoconf267.diff, automake111.diff, libtool22.diff.
Note, since autoconf/automake are often not very backwards compatible unlike libtool it's better to make them a separate port.


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## regis (Jul 7, 2012)

Other way to omit autoconf errors is installing devel/autoconf-wrapper.


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