Re: Changes to handling version numbers internally

The Hermit Hacker <scrappy@hub.org> writes:
>> This way we can also make it available to shell scripts and make
>> files. The next autoconf version will have built-in support for this
>> setup, so it's not like I'm making this up. :)

> I see you've already committed the changes, which I still disagree with
> ... I don't like the fact that someone has to remember to update the
> configure.in and autoconf it to change the version number.

It's a lot better than it was before ;-)

> We already have the mess with template files, why not create a VERSION
> file that could just as easily be read in by configure, without having
> to do an autoconf, to change the version?

Gilding the lily.  The people who are likely to be bumping the version
number are all perfectly familar with autoconf.  Also, we've already
got bad-enough problems with dependencies (see nearby thread) without
introducing a dependency from a file that's read by configure to
who-knows-where --- a dependency that can't be handled by 'make depend'.
        regards, tom lane