Re: add distdir target to gnu coding standards?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Matt,

* Matt Rice wrote on Tue, Sep 14, 2010 at 06:22:35AM CEST:
> I noticed that autotools when running 'make dist' rely on subdirs
> implementing a distdir target
> which wasn't documented in the gnu coding standards, before making an
> attempt at documenting it
> I figured i'd ask if it is something that should be added?

this isn't really a gnulib question, rather an Automake one or a GCS one
(there's a bug-standards list for the latter).

Anyway, the distdir target (and the implementation requirement for a
mixed Automake/non-Automake setup) is described in
  info Automake "Third-Party Makefiles"

I'm not heavily opposed to documentation in GCS, but there is not a
pressing need for this: packages built entirely without Automake should
still cope fine without a distdir target.  Also, I'm not sure if the
semantics of distdir are ready to be set in stone forever; for example,
we've changed some details here in the last couple of releases.

Cheers,
Ralf