Re: avoiding target $(srcdir)/Makefile.in

[john heasley]

On Mon, Oct 02, 2000 at 05:02:46AM -0400, Pavel Roskin darkened my spool with 
the following:
> Hello, John!
> 
> > is there a macro or option to automake to ommit the target
> > for $(srcdir)/Makefile.in, such that it is not necessary to
> > include Makefile.am and configure.in in a distribution?
> 
> It already becomes a FAQ. Why do you need this?
> 
> The last person who asked about this alleged that there will be problems
> on systems lacking Automake, but couldn't give a real example.

if these targets are in the Makefile.in, but i do not include
aclocal.m4, Makefile.am, or configure.in in the distribution,
then make fails.  for example:

roome [3414] ls
CHANGES         README          cloginrc.sample config.status   mkinstalldirs
Makefile        Todo            config.cache    configure       util
Makefile.in     bin             config.log      install-sh
roome [3415] make
make: *** No rule to make target `Makefile.am', needed by `Makefile.in'.  Stop.

> > i tried including an empty target in Makefile.am.  it looks
> > as if it is created in the perl code and there dont appear
> > to be any conditionals to avoid it.
> 
> Only the first statement is correct. Search for "This rule remakes the
> Makefile.in" in automake - there is a clear indication that
> AM_MAINTATINER_MODE can be used to suppress that rule.

this includes @MAINTAINER_MODE_TRUE@ in the Makefile.in target, which
does not get replaced by configure without an AC_SUBST().

Makefile.in: $(srcdir)/Makefile.in: @MAINTAINER_MODE_TRUE@ Makefile.am 
$(top_srcdir)/configure.in $(ACLOCAL_M4) 
Makefile.in: $(srcdir)/configure: @address@hidden(srcdir)/configure.in 
$(ACLOCAL_M4) $(CONFIGURE_DEPENDENCIES)

perhaps i am using AM_MAINTAINER_MODE incorrectly.  i have it in
configure.in: AM_MAINTAINER_MODE().  it seems to operate in the
same manner no matter where i put it.

what am i missing?

> However, I believe that you don't really want it.

are input files to automake and autoconf normally just included
in distributions?  in the past i have seen several packages (not
necessarily from gnu) which do not include these.

thanks!
-heas

> Regards,
> Pavel Roskin