Installation problems / Compile problems: could we abandon GNU configure and switch to cmake or meson/ninja?

[rubyFeedback]

Hey there,

Now this may be a user error: fair enough.

I just tried ./bootstrap. This was the result:

+ test -f Makefile
+ rm -rf '*.cache' '*.m4' config.guess config.log config.status config.sub depcomp ltmain.sh
+ autoreconf --verbose --install
autoreconf: export WARNINGS=
autoreconf: Entering directory '.'
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Gettext
autoreconf: running: aclocal -I m4
aclocal: warning: couldn't open directory 'm4': No such file or directory
autoreconf: configure.ac: tracing
autoreconf: running: libtoolize --copy
libtoolize: putting auxiliary files in '.'.
libtoolize: copying file './ltmain.sh'
libtoolize: putting macros in AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIRS, 'm4'.
libtoolize: copying file 'm4/libtool.m4'
libtoolize: copying file 'm4/ltoptions.m4'
libtoolize: copying file 'm4/ltsugar.m4'
libtoolize: copying file 'm4/ltversion.m4'
libtoolize: copying file 'm4/lt~obsolete.m4'
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Intltool
autoreconf: configure.ac: not using Gtkdoc
autoreconf: running: aclocal -I m4
autoreconf: running: /usr/bin/autoconf
configure.ac:52: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_MSG_ERROR
      If this token and others are legitimate, please use m4_pattern_allow.
      See the Autoconf documentation.
configure.ac:59: error: possibly undefined macro: AC_DEFINE
autoreconf: error: /usr/bin/autoconf failed with exit status: 1

I am not sure what the problem is. Probably something related to m4.

But, truth be told, I think the world would be a better place if we can finally
kill the whole GNU configure stack. Errors such as the above just should
not happen. Ever.

Could we perhaps transition into cmake or, even better, meson/ninja? I am
not saying to completely throw away the old autoconf stuff as-is, for some
people it may work. But perhaps we could also use cmake or meson, and
then the above error would not be an issue.

At any rate, it is of course your project and your time, so however you wish
to evaluate this issue is fine, including closing it without any change. Best
regards to you folks for maintaining PCSC - the use case I had for using it
was yubikey needing PCSC-daemon to run (hopefully I found the correct
project there, pcscd is a bit awkward to google, I get tons of man-pages
but not so much projects for that.)

[rubyFeedback]

Nevermind - this one worked fine:

https://pcsclite.apdu.fr/files/

I took the latest and just compiled it; did not have to use ./bootstrap, just configuring and
compiling it worked. Not sure why I tried to use the git source before. (I still hate the GNU
configure stack though. It feels so ancient nowadays...)