Automake-1.6.1: feedback, distdir bugs

[Christian Cornelssen]

Dear Automake maintainers,

In the course of using Automake-1.5 and Automake-1.5b, I have noted
some caveats in the attached `am-notes.txt' file for co-maintainers.
Now I have upgraded to Automake-1.6.1, and I am happy to find that
quite a lot of bugs have been fixed.  However, a quick glance through
the generated `Makefile.in's reveals that some bugs still remain:

* The distdir procedure passes a wrong top_distdir setting to
  sub-makes (the value passed would be ok if top_distdir were an
  absolute path, but it's initialized to ".").  Since the sub-makes do
  not use top_distdir, its wrong value does not take effect unless
  used in a user-specified command.

  Suggestion: Do not pass top_distdir to sub-makes.  They have a correct
  (relative) setting in their Makefiles already.

* The distdir variable is set incorrectly in subdir-`Makefile.in's: It
  misses the subdir component.  This does not take effect because the
  commands for the distdir target pass a correct distdir setting to
  every sub-make.

  Suggestion: Preset distdir correctly in the `Makefile.in' and do not
  pass it in $(MAKE) command lines.

  To achieve subdir independence, any subdir `Makefile.in's distdir
  rule should start with the command "$(mkinstalldirs) $(distdir)".

Furthermore, I'd suggest mentioning some points in the documentation
which I have tried to explain in the attached `am-notes.txt':

* Proper usage of AM_MAKEFLAGS

* Pecularities of `*-local' targets

* ${srcdir}, ${top_srcdir}, and where not to use them

* Patterns vs. VPATH

I'd like to update the documentation myself, but you surely know
better and would therefore edit the changes anyway.

Most other sections in the `am-notes.txt' have become obsolete with
the new Automake release (many thanks!), but you may still notice the
points on

* Compression rules

* Autoheader

Best regards,

Christian Cornelssen

am-notes.txt
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