Re: [PATCH RFC 0/2] Makefile: deprecate autoconf build infrastructure

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Mar 4, 2026, 18:10 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq8qc78nyt.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <20260304-pks-autoconf-deprecation-v1-0-f5b611b13138@pks.im>

Patrick Steinhardt <ps@pks.im> writes:

Show 9 quoted lines

> roundabout 1.5 years ago we had a long discussion that eventually led to
> a rough consensus that we'd rather want to get rid of our autoconf build
> infrastucture. This eventually led to the introduction of Meson to cover
> this use case, which has stabilized for quite a while by now.
>
> This patch series thus starts the deprecation period of the autoconf
> build infrastructure. Target for removal is Git 2.55 for now, but I'm
> very open for discussions here. I also assume that depending on feedback
> from packagers we may need to adapt the timeline.

I do not consider autoconf a thing on its own; rather it is a mere extension to Makefile based build, isn't it? So the declaration to say "we favor meson over autoconf" makes little sense, at least to me.

Asking which between Makefile and Meson should be the "primary" build environment is a different story, and the question does make sense, even though my answer may be different from yours ;-)