Package network-3.1.2.3 does not compile on Windows (autoconf problems)

[Mikolaj]

Edit: @hasufell pointed out that our CI still uses cabal 3.4 and so what happens is that we are seeing first time in the wild that cabal 3.4. doesn't work with autoconf files generated with new autoconf version. Sadly, even our CI Windows dogfooding jobs first use 3.4 to build new cabal and only then test the new cabal, so their failure does not mean that 3.6.2 is broken (as I mistakenly assumed and panicked). See #7708.

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Old outdated text follows:

So far spotted on 3.6. branch:

https://github.com/haskell/cabal/pull/7706/checks?check_run_id=3825123562

Is says configure: error: cannot find required auxiliary files: config.guess config.sub, but the files are present in the package and in the same location as in the previous network version.

We'd need to test cabal 3.4 and branch master to get a fuller picture. Also, it would be good to make sure network-3.1.2.2 compiles fine with 3.6 and master, in case the problem is some global GHA change.

Edit: @hasufell reports if fails on cabal 3.4 on Windows, as well, and 3.1.2.2 seems to work fine.

[Mikolaj]

Edit: see the ticket description for a correction to these findings.

LIkely suspects:

haskell/network#510 [edit: this one changes the autoconf not-automatically-generated files to new ones, not even generated by network devs, but newer straight from upstream, but as @Mistuke corrected me, this should not matter; what matters is the version of autoconf used to produce the autogenerated files]

haskell/network#508 [edit: this one probably only masked the failure on network's CI]

Nothing else seems obviously related:

https://github.com/haskell/network/compare/v3.1.2.2..v3.1.2.3

[Mistuke]

haskell/network#510 [edit: this one changes the autoconf generated files to new ones, not even generated by network devs, but newer straight from upstream --- no wonder we didn't test those when checking our workaround in cabal 3.6.2]

It's not, when a release is made the configure script is regenerated by the maintainer. The maintainer's local machine has autoconf 2.7+, which causes the new configure format to be generated.

So it's not the changes in the packages, it's the act of generating the release itself. That said the changes in 3.6.2 should work.

[Mikolaj]

Yes, @hasufell confirmed 3.6.2 works with the changes, without regenerating the files.

[Mikolaj]

This is now fixed upstream. Thank you all the firefighting team.