Subject: Re: [PATCH RFC 0/2] Makefile: deprecate autoconf build infrastructure

From: Junio C Hamano <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 04 Mar 2026 10:10:50 -0800

Patrick Steinhardt <[email-masked]> writes:

> roundabout 1.5 years ago we had a long discussion that eventually led to
> a rough consensus that we'd rather want to get rid of our autoconf build
> infrastucture. This eventually led to the introduction of Meson to cover
> this use case, which has stabilized for quite a while by now.
>
> This patch series thus starts the deprecation period of the autoconf
> build infrastructure. Target for removal is Git 2.55 for now, but I'm
> very open for discussions here. I also assume that depending on feedback
> from packagers we may need to adapt the timeline.

I do not consider autoconf a thing on its own; rather it is a mere
extension to Makefile based build, isn't it?  So the declaration to
say "we favor meson over autoconf" makes little sense, at least to
me.

Asking which between Makefile and Meson should be the "primary"
build environment is a different story, and the question does make
sense, even though my answer may be different from yours ;-)