autoconf-archive: Fix build on FreeBSD

[rhelmot]

Description of changes

part of #296581

texinfo is required for building docs on FreeBSD native.

Things done

• Built on platform(s)
  • x86_64-linux
  • aarch64-linux
  • x86_64-darwin
  • aarch64-darwin
  • x86_64-freebsd
• For non-Linux: Is sandboxing enabled in nix.conf? (See Nix manual)
  • sandbox = relaxed
  • sandbox = true
• Tested, as applicable:
  • NixOS test(s) (look inside nixos/tests)
  • and/or package tests
  • or, for functions and "core" functionality, tests in lib/tests or pkgs/test
  • made sure NixOS tests are linked to the relevant packages
• Tested compilation of all packages that depend on this change using nix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review rev HEAD". Note: all changes have to be committed, also see nixpkgs-review usage
• Tested basic functionality of all binary files (usually in ./result/bin/)
• 24.05 Release Notes (or backporting 23.05 and 23.11 Release notes)
  • (Package updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is major or breaking
  • (Module updates) Added a release notes entry if the change is significant
  • (Module addition) Added a release notes entry if adding a new NixOS module
• Fits CONTRIBUTING.md.

---

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[Ericson2314]

1. I think we should target master where possible. We can merge master into staging at any time (last I checked).

2. What exactly is the reason for this? build-time conditional deps, or cross vs native divergence, feels rather peculiar to me.

[rhelmot]

       last 25 log lines:                                                                                                          
       > cd "$am__cwd"; \                                                                                                          
       > if /nix/store/5fxljnxqia0f76xfykzqrr6p60yrkv1c-bash/bin/bash '/build/autoconf-archive-2023.02.20/build-aux/missing' makeinfo   -I . \
       >  -o autoconf-archive.info autoconf-archive.texi; \                                                                        
       > then \                                                                                                                    
       >   rc=0; \                                                                                                                 
       >   CDPATH="${ZSH_VERSION+.}:" && cd .; \                                                                                   
       > else \                                                                                                                    
       >   rc=$?; \                                                                                                                
       >   CDPATH="${ZSH_VERSION+.}:" && cd . && \                                                                                 
       >   $restore $backupdir/* `echo "./autoconf-archive.info" | sed 's|[^/]*$||'`; \                          
       > fi; \                                                                                                                     
       > rm -rf $backupdir; exit $rc                                                                                               
       > /build/autoconf-archive-2023.02.20/build-aux/missing: line 81: makeinfo: command not found              
       > WARNING: 'makeinfo' is missing on your system.                                                                            
       >          You should only need it if you modified a '.texi' file, or                                  
       >          any other file indirectly affecting the aspect of the manual.                                     
       >          You might want to install the Texinfo package:                                                                                                                                                                                                      
       >          <https://www.gnu.org/software/texinfo/>
       >          The spurious makeinfo call might also be the consequence of
       >          using a buggy 'make' (AIX, DU, IRIX), in which case you might
       >          want to install GNU make:
       >          <https://www.gnu.org/software/make/>
       > make[1]: *** [Makefile:325: autoconf-archive.info] Error 127
       > make[1]: Leaving directory '/build/autoconf-archive-2023.02.20/doc'
       > make: *** [Makefile:420: install-recursive] Error 1
       For full logs, run 'nix-store -l /nix/store/3ypq5y2pdmdwh3m0rqjgmf6jivm8hrxm-autoconf-archive-2023.02.20.drv'.

I believe this is in turn because of https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/pull/311795/files#diff-4b5da784f51cdf538452c429273232dce5d0155b75dd461ab67c0d7665c07322. We have to change uname unqualified to /nix/store/.../bin/uname, which triggers the rebuild.

[alyssais]

Why just on FreeBSD?

[rhelmot]

See conversation with John on the main thread. The unqualified-uname problem which precipitates this is present for a few operating systems, but I believe FreeBSD is the only one we support building from. We can enable this for all platforms and it will be harmless, but I think this signals the mechanism more clearly. I can also add a comment.

[Ericson2314]

what does texinfo have to do with uname?

[rhelmot]

Patching the unqualified uname trips some modified-file check which causes some additional configure time logic which invokes texinfo. See above for the exact error message which explains this.

[alyssais]

Could maybe use a comment, then, since not everybody's going to have a FreeBSD build machine around to check for themselves why it's required.

[rhelmot]

done

[Ericson2314]

Ah, it finally clicked what the "modified-file check" means / how that matters. Got it.

[alyssais]

Looks good with a squash.

[Ericson2314]

Sorry one more question, how come the /usr/bin/uname isn't a problem normally? Does it depend on whether we need to regenerate configure?

Seems like this should be tied to autoreconfHook somehow...

[rhelmot]

horrifyingly enough, in the autoconf code which is THIS old, some of the invocations of uname for some operating systems look it up via PATH and some hardcode /usr/bin/uname.

edit: not actually sure anymore if the oldness has anything to do with it. I have vague memory of this mattering for many other packages.

[rhelmot]

Okay I investigated the consequences of the uname patch some more.

It looks like autoreconfHook DOES solve the same problem as the uname patch hook in stdenv that necessitates the texinfo package being added here, on account of this very recent autoconf commit. I set up a branch that removes the stdenv hook and instead just adds autoreconfHook to everything that will take it, and just does the patch inline for everything else. Unfortunately, due to the nature of stdenv, this was 36 packages changed, of which 17 of them were unable to use autoreconfHook. I think we would just be better just doing it the way I was doing it initially, with the stdenv hook. I can add a comment with the nature of this dependency.

[alyssais]

Using a hook sounds okay, but it shouldn't be a default stdenv hook, because that'd be next to impossible to remove later. We can add it as an input to the 17 packages that need it, and then phase it out as their configure scripts are updated.

[Ericson2314]

What about updateAutotoolsGnuConfigScriptsHook? It always has good support in the existing native stdenvs too. (I think I was confusing autoreconfHook and that.)

[rhelmot]

Looks like since the linked PR this is no longer needed :)