bug#12657: Can't have spaces in source files

[Nick Bowler]

On 2012-10-15 15:30 +0300, Hristo Venev wrote:
> Consider the following example:
>     bin_PROGRAMS = prog
>     prog_SOURCES = "a file.c" "another file.c"
> 
> This doesn't work and nor does any other way I have thought of.

Nope, it does not.  Unfortunately, make really does not work properly
with spaces in filenames, so Automake isn't going to be able to do
anything to help.  See §28.4 "Limitations on File Names" in the Automake
manual:

  
https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Limitations-on-File-Names

in particular:

  Source and installation file names like main.c are limited even
  further: they should conform to the POSIX/XOPEN rules described above

where the "POSIX/XOPEN rules" are described thusly:

  Portable packages should limit themselves to POSIX file names. These
  can contain ASCII letters and digits, ‘_’, ‘.’, and ‘-’. File names
  consist of components separated by ‘/’. File name components cannot
  begin with ‘-’. 

Cheers,
-- 
Nick Bowler, Elliptic Technologies (http://www.elliptictech.com/)