[Bug 1934683] [NEW] autoconf 2.69 erroneously includes "runstatedir" feature

[Stephanos Ioannidis]

Public bug reported:

The Debian/Ubuntu autoconf 2.69 package currently supports the
"runstatedir" feature, which is supposed to be available from the
autoconf 2.70 and above.

This is because the autoconf 2.69-9 package release pulled in an
upstream patch that added the support for "runstatedir" feature and this
is not a correct thing to do -- for obvious reasons, different package
versions of the same upstream release should not contain different
features.

This alters the behaviour of what is supposed to be autoconf 2.69,
making it behave like autoconf 2.70 -- the `configure` script generated
by this "autoconf 2.69" looks like that generated by autoconf 2.70 (i.e.
it contains "runstatedir"-related code).

This is problematic because many projects (e.g. binutils, gcc, ...)
specify an exact version of autoconf to be used for generating the
config files in order to ensure that the generated config files are
without any version-dependent differences -- and it is extremely
confusing and misleading when your "supposedly autoconf 2.69" generates
what looks to have been generated by autoconf 2.70.

The "runstatedir" patch that was pulled in as part of the autoconf
2.69-9 package release must be reverted for this reason.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
Package: autoconf 2.69-11.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-55.62~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
Uname: Linux 5.8.0-55-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.18
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
Date: Tue Jul  6 00:49:44 2021
InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-05-18 (47 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
PackageArchitecture: all
SourcePackage: autoconf
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

** Affects: autoconf (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New


** Tags: amd64 apport-bug focal

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1934683

Title:
  autoconf 2.69 erroneously includes "runstatedir" feature

Status in autoconf package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  The Debian/Ubuntu autoconf 2.69 package currently supports the
  "runstatedir" feature, which is supposed to be available from the
  autoconf 2.70 and above.

  This is because the autoconf 2.69-9 package release pulled in an
  upstream patch that added the support for "runstatedir" feature and
  this is not a correct thing to do -- for obvious reasons, different
  package versions of the same upstream release should not contain
  different features.

  This alters the behaviour of what is supposed to be autoconf 2.69,
  making it behave like autoconf 2.70 -- the `configure` script
  generated by this "autoconf 2.69" looks like that generated by
  autoconf 2.70 (i.e. it contains "runstatedir"-related code).

  This is problematic because many projects (e.g. binutils, gcc, ...)
  specify an exact version of autoconf to be used for generating the
  config files in order to ensure that the generated config files are
  without any version-dependent differences -- and it is extremely
  confusing and misleading when your "supposedly autoconf 2.69"
  generates what looks to have been generated by autoconf 2.70.

  The "runstatedir" patch that was pulled in as part of the autoconf
  2.69-9 package release must be reverted for this reason.

  ProblemType: Bug
  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 20.04
  Package: autoconf 2.69-11.1
  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 5.8.0-55.62~20.04.1-generic 5.8.18
  Uname: Linux 5.8.0-55-generic x86_64
  ApportVersion: 2.20.11-0ubuntu27.18
  Architecture: amd64
  CasperMD5CheckResult: skip
  Date: Tue Jul  6 00:49:44 2021
  InstallationDate: Installed on 2021-05-18 (47 days ago)
  InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS "Focal Fossa" - Release amd64 (20200731)
  PackageArchitecture: all
  SourcePackage: autoconf
  UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

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