Re: indent target for maint.mk

[Jim Meyering]

Simon Josefsson <address@hidden> wrote:

> Installed.
>
> 2006-03-03  Simon Josefsson  <address@hidden>
>
>       * build-aux/maint.mk: Add indent target.
>
> --- maint.mk  15 Feb 2006 11:40:27 +0100      1.2
> +++ maint.mk  03 Mar 2006 14:29:53 +0100
> @@ -50,3 +50,8 @@
>  .PHONY: $(syntax-check-rules)
>
>  syntax-check: $(syntax-check-rules)
> +
> +INDENT_SOURCES ?= $(C_SOURCES)
> +.PHONY: indent
> +indent:
> +     indent $(C_SOURCES)

I don't like rules that modify source files like that.  A little dangerous.
What if I have a big pending change and this mixes in additional,
unrelated changes.  Messy.
It's such a simple rule, I wonder if it's worth the small risk.

I would find more useful a rule that tells me which files are
not properly indented.  E.g., send indent output to a temporary
file, then compare that with the original.