[PPL-devel] PPL uses m4 option --prefix-builtins - Not available on non GNU systems

[Tobias Grosser]

 Hi,

I just compiled ppl on my FreeBSD system. And it works almost flawless.
Just a little problem during installation.

You use a GNU specific m4 option not available on non GNU systems like
*BSD or Solaris.

The command is:

m4 --prefix-builtin -I.. -I$(srcdir) -I$(srcdir)/.. \      

and is used e.g. in interfaces/C/Makefile.

My fast hack to solve the problem is to install gnu m4 and patch the
Makefiles to call gm4 instead of m4.

But it would be nice to be able to install ppl without to be forced to
install another m4 and to patch the Makefiles.

There seems to be solutions to get the prefixes without using gnu
specific stuff:

http://puszcza.gnu.org.ua/software/mailfromd/manual/html_node/Preprocessor.html#DOCF27

If this is not possible, it would be nice to get at least a better error
message and some documentation, that you need gnu m4 to install ppl.

Thanks a lot

Tobias