GNU bug report logs - #68151
automake-1.16j on Alpine Linux

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bruno Haible <bruno <at> clisp.org>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: Re: automake-1.16j on Alpine Linux
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2023 19:13:23 +0100

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

On Alpine Linux 3.18, "make check" shows 167 test failures. All of them
have the same cause:
  gzip --best ...
fails because gzip is from BusyBox 1.36.1 and
  - does not understand the option '--best', only '-1' ... '-9'.
  - understands the options '-1' ... '-9' only when compressing, not when
    decompressing.

Find attached the log file.

This issue has already been seen by a GNU package (parted):
https://fossies.org/linux/gparted/ChangeLog line 1561.

Here's a proposed fix. It consists in passing '-9' instead of '--best'.
(gzip is 30 years old; it's extremely unlikely that it gets more
compression levels in the future.)
Also it removes the use of $(GZIP_ENV) when decompressing, since it causes
an error with BusyBox gzip and is redundant with GNU gzip.

[test-suite.log.xz (application/x-xz, attachment)]

[0001-Fix-make-check-failures-on-Alpine-Linux-where-gzip-i.patch (text/x-patch, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 68151 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
To: bruno <at> clisp.org
Cc: 68151 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#68151: automake-1.16j on Alpine Linux
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2023 16:37:50 -0700

  - does not understand the option '--best', only '-1' ... '-9'.
  - understands the options '-1' ... '-9' only when compressing, not when

Seems a rather unnecessary incompatibility that some system decided not
to support --best in gzip, when it has been available for those same 30
years. Oh well.

    Here's a proposed fix. It consists in passing '-9' instead of '--best'.

Thanks. Looks fine to me, and all the tests still passed. Installed,
with a few words in the doc. -k

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