Since the --runstatedir option was backported to autoconf[1], the %configure RPM macro should set this option properly. This has actually caused some issues, due to an upstream bug[2] causing @RUNSTATEDIR@ not to be properly expanded. This upstream issue wouldn't affect us, if runstatedir was properly for each build. Some packages cope with this issue on the per package bases[3] in Fedora, but I believe this should be resolved in the %configure macro itself. More information in the related bug report[4]. [1] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1831941 [2] https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-autoconf/2021-03/msg00001.html [3] https://src.fedoraproject.org/rpms/krb5/c/327ebd0b263aa5adaafd83851b8dd9953f984c01?branch=rawhide [4] https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1935653
I do not think it is wise to make this change in RHEL 8. We don't really know how packages react to changed configure arguments. The risk seems rather high as a result. What is the expected benefit of this change?
I don't think we can make this change in an existing distribution because risk is too high for the rather limited benefit. We plan to make this change in Fedora first, following the steps outlined in bug 1937406 comment 9.