gh-40155: Add check for Arch Linux in configure to recommend meson build
    
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Add a check if the configure is run on Arch Linux. If yes, then
recommend to use Meson instead since there is little need for configure
+ make on Arch and the Meson build works nicely there.
This check can be disabled by passing `--disable-meson-check`.

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preview.

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URL: #40155
Reported by: Tobias Diez
Reviewer(s):

Author: Release Manager

.github/workflows/ci-linux-incremental.yml

@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ on:
     paths:
       - '.github/workflows/ci-linux-incremental.yml'
       - 'build/pkgs/**'
+      - 'configure.ac'
       - '!build/pkgs/sage_conf/**'
       - '!build/pkgs/sage_docbuild/**'
       - '!build/pkgs/sage_setup/**'

configure.ac

@@ -101,6 +101,23 @@ AC_SUBST([SAGE_DOCS], ['${SAGE_LOCAL}'])dnl Quoted so that it is resolved at bui
 
 #---------------------------------------------------------
 
+# Check for systems where Meson build is recommended
+AC_ARG_ENABLE([meson-check],
+  [AS_HELP_STRING([--disable-meson-check],
+    [do not fail the build if running on systems where Meson is preferred])],
+  [enable_meson_check=$enableval],
+  [enable_meson_check=yes])
+
+if test "$enable_meson_check" != no; then
+  AC_MSG_CHECKING([for Arch Linux])
+  if grep -qi 'arch' /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null || test -f /etc/arch-release; then
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([yes])
+    AC_MSG_ERROR([Building on Arch Linux using make is not recommended. Please use Meson as described at https://doc.sagemath.org/html/en/installation/meson.html. Use --disable-meson-check to override.])
+  else
+    AC_MSG_RESULT([no])
+  fi
+fi
+
 AC_ARG_ENABLE([build-as-root],
               [AS_HELP_STRING([--enable-build-as-root],
                               [allow building Sage as root (for use in containers)])],