[bug] AutotoolsToolchain cannot change install prefix

[madebr]

#11264 switches from using --prefix={self._conanfile.package_folder} to --prefix=/ + make install DESTDIR={self._conanfile.package_folder}.

When doing the following to change the prefix, it still installs to /.

    def generate(self):
        autotools = AutotoolsToolchain(self)
        autotools.configure_args.extend([
            "--prefix={}".format(unix_path(self, self.package_folder)),
        ])

    def build(self):
        autotools = Autotools(self)
        autotools.configure()
        autotools.make()

    def package(self):
        autotools = Autotools(self)
        autotools.install(args=[])
        

Environment Details (include every applicable attribute)

• Operating System+version: Windows 10
• Compiler+version: Visual Studio 2019
• Conan version: 1.53.0
• Python version: 3.10.7

Steps to reproduce (Include if Applicable)

Logs (Executed commands with output) (Include/Attach if Applicable)

Applying conan v2 AutotoolsToolchain to conan-io/conan-center-index#13564 and building mingw on Windows:

configure command: notice how --prefix is passed twice

> "C:\Users\maarten\.conan\data\libmicrohttpd\0.9.75\_\_\build\3072adedaf59693260b5c468de68fd932dcaf9f0\msys2_mode.bat" && C:\.conan\36de63\1\bin\msys64\usr\bin\bash.exe -c ^". \^"C:\Users\maarten\.conan\data\libmicrohttpd\0.9.75\_\_\build\3072adedaf59693260b5c468de68fd932dcaf9f0\conanbuild.sh\^" ^&^& \^"/c/users/maarten/.conan/data/libmicrohttpd/0.9.75/_/_/build/3072adedaf59693260b5c468de68fd932dcaf9f0/configure\^" --enable-shared --disable-static --prefix=/ --bindir=${prefix}/bin --sbindir=${prefix}/bin --libdir=${prefix}/lib --includedir=${prefix}/include --oldincludedir=${prefix}/include --enable-shared=yes --enable-static=no --enable-https=no --enable-messages=yes --enable-postprocessor=yes --enable-dauth=yes --enable-epoll=no --disable-doc --disable-examples --disable-curl --prefix=/c/users/maarten/.conan/data/libmicrohttpd/0.9.75/_/_/package/3072adedaf59693260b5c468de68fd932dcaf9f0 ^"

install log excerpt:

...

 /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 microhttpd.h '/include'

...

 /bin/sh ../../libtool   --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c   libmicrohttpd.la '/lib'

Notice how the files are installed to /include and /lib instead of the conan prefix.

[czoido]

Hi @madebr,

Thanks for reporting. I wanted to ask if the underlying issue is related to this? #12193 if this is solved it would be not necessary to redefine the --prefix right?
There would be workarounds like removing "--prefix=/" prefix from the list of configure_args and then adding that --prefix, but anyway I'm marking this for the next release to be considered as I think it's something that should be solved inside the AutotoolsToolchain.

[madebr]

Yes, #12193 is the other issue I encountered while packaging libmicrohttpd.

Having the possibility to change the prefix is still useful, imho.
I have encountered proejcts where I had to install to a temporary folder and extract "the good parts" to a prefix.
When building toolchains, you even have to perform autotools.install() multiple times (hence Autotools has a namespace).

I think it would be useful to add a package_folder (or something similar) to AutotoolsToolchain.

[memsharded]

Closed in #12620, will be in 1.55