[gnutls-devel] libtasn1 | autoreconf on 4.2.21 sets wromg mtime for doc/libtasn1.texi (#57)

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Andreas Metzler created an issue: https://gitlab.com/gnutls/libtasn1/-/issues/57



Hello,
4.2.21 fails to build on make check after autoreconf if texinfo is not installed:
```
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[3]: *** [Makefile:1765: libtasn1.info] Error 127
```

I think this is the  reason why, libtasn1.texi mtime is set to 0 by ./configure.
```
(sid)ametzler at argenau:/tmp/TASN/libtasn1$ ls -l  doc/libtasn1.texi ;  head doc/version.texi ; autoreconf ; ls -l  doc/libtasn1.texi ;  head doc/version.texi ; ./configure > /dev/null 2>&1 ; ls -l  doc/libtasn1.texi ;  head doc/version.texi
-rw-r--r-- 1 ametzler ametzler 10949 Jan  8 12:19 doc/libtasn1.texi
@set UPDATED 8 January 2026
@set UPDATED-MONTH January 2026
@set EDITION 4.21.0
@set VERSION 4.21.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 ametzler ametzler 10949 Jan  8 12:19 doc/libtasn1.texi
@set UPDATED 8 January 2026
@set UPDATED-MONTH January 2026
@set EDITION 4.21.0
@set VERSION 4.21.0
-rw-r--r-- 1 ametzler ametzler 10949 Jan  1  1970 doc/libtasn1.texi
@set UPDATED 8 January 2026
@set UPDATED-MONTH January 2026
@set EDITION 4.21.0
@set VERSION 4.21.0

```

At build time this code in doc/Makefile is triggered because the mtime recorded in version.texi does not match the relal mtime of libtasn1.texi:
```
$(srcdir)/version.texi:  $(srcdir)/stamp-vti
$(srcdir)/stamp-vti: libtasn1.texi $(top_srcdir)/configure
	@(dir=.; test -f ./libtasn1.texi || dir=$(srcdir); \
	set `$(SHELL) $(top_srcdir)/build-aux/mdate-sh $$dir/libtasn1.texi`; \
	echo "@set UPDATED $$1 $$2 $$3"; \
	echo "@set UPDATED-MONTH $$2 $$3"; \
	echo "@set EDITION $(VERSION)"; \
	echo "@set VERSION $(VERSION)") > vti.tmp$$$$ && \
	(cmp -s vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi \
	  || (echo "Updating $(srcdir)/version.texi" && \
	      cp vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi.tmp$$$$ && \
	      mv $(srcdir)/version.texi.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi)) && \
	rm -f vti.tmp$$$$ $(srcdir)/version.texi.$$$$
	@cp $(srcdir)/version.texi $@

```
Now version.texi is newer than libtasn1.info and the latter is out of date and make thinks it needs to be rebuilt.

The code for settig the wrong time-stamp is in configure.ac
```
st_help2man=0
st_touch=197001010000.00
AC_MSG_CHECKING([for timestamps of last git commit])
if test -e "$srcdir"/.git && command -v git > /dev/null; then
   if tmp=$(git log -1 --format=%cd --date=unix); then
     st_help2man="$tmp"
   fi
   if tmp=$(env TZ=UTC0 git log -1 --format=%cd --date=format-local:%Y%m%d%H%M.%S); then
      st_touch="$tmp"
   fi
fi
AC_SUBST(SOURCETIME_HELP2MAN, "${SOURCETIME_HELP2MAN:-$st_help2man}")
AC_MSG_RESULT(help2man $SOURCETIME_HELP2MAN touch $st_touch)
env TZ=UTC0 \
    touch -m -t "$st_touch" \
          "$srcdir"/NEWS.md "$srcdir"/doc/$PACKAGE.texi

```

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