[8u] RFR(XS): 8233880: Support compilers with multi-digit major version numbers

[Florian Weimer]

* Andrew Haley:

> On 5/11/20 8:58 AM, Florian Weimer wrote:
>> * Severin Gehwolf:
>> 
>>> Thanks for the review! Yes, generated-configure.sh changes are due to
>>> version skew of autoconf being used. I'll try to generate configure on
>>> an older machine so as to avoid this before pushing. Does that sound
>>> ok?
>> 
>> THe runstatedir changes come and go (even in the jdk8u-dev history),
>> depending on whether Debian's autoconf is used, which patches its
>> autoconf 2.69 build to handle runstatedir.  There hasn't been an
>> autoconf upstream release in many, many years, so going back to older
>> versions will not solve this.  If you want to avoid this change, you
>> either have to use Debian's autoconf, or back it out manually.
>
> I guess it doesn't matter. Having said that, it's a timely reminder
> of how random distro-isms end up in OpenJDK by accident.

The flip side is that distributions carry different patches or use sed
to patch configure scripts.

> And I am *so* *happy* that autoconf is stable upstream. I remember when
> it was changing rapidly, and that was a nightmare.

A new upstream release is in the works:

  <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/autoconf/2020-03/msg00003.html>

It's true that in the past, you had to have multiple autoconf versions
installed and use the right version depending on the project.  But at
least distributions where providing you with a reasonable choice of
autoconf (and automake) versions.  Today, you can't easily get Debian's
autoconf on Fedora and vice versa, which is clearly not an ideal
situation.

Thanks,
Florian