Re: maint.mk: absolute VPATH build fix

[Jim Meyering]

Akim Demaille wrote:
> There's another one.
>
> This rule is vastly verbose (no @).  Is it on purpose?
> Also, can't we use AM_V_GEN instead of @?  That's helpful,
> on occasions, when debugging (ahem…).

I would welcome patches to use AM_V_GEN more consistently.

> commit d32964aad95a7d46fb0a8fa4a59b0b6d47d26f35
> Author: Akim Demaille <address@hidden>
> Date:   Sun Jul 29 19:10:25 2012 +0200
>
>     maint.mk: absolute VPATH issue
>
>     * top/maint.mk (release-prep): Help Git find .git/.
>
> diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
> index ddd205e..dade591 100644
> --- a/ChangeLog
> +++ b/ChangeLog
> @@ -1,5 +1,10 @@
>  2012-07-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>
>
> +     maint.mk: absolute VPATH issue
> +     * top/maint.mk (release-prep): Help Git find .git/.
> +
> +2012-07-29  Akim Demaille  <address@hidden>
> +
>       gitlog-to-changelog: fix previous change
>       * build-aux/gitlog-to-changelog: Fix condition.
>       Add missing ";".
> diff --git a/top/maint.mk b/top/maint.mk
> index 2af938e..dab9432 100644
> --- a/top/maint.mk
> +++ b/top/maint.mk
> @@ -1387,9 +1387,8 @@ release-prep:
>       echo $(VERSION) > $(prev_version_file)
>       $(MAKE) update-NEWS-hash
>       perl -pi -e '$$. == 3 and print "$(gl_noteworthy_news_)\n\n\n"' 
> $(srcdir)/NEWS
> -     $(emit-commit-log) > .ci-msg
> -     $(VC) commit -F .ci-msg -a
> -     rm .ci-msg
> +     $(emit-commit-log) \
> +       | (cd $(srcdir) && $(VC) commit -F - -a)

I do like avoiding the temporary file, but this induces a down side:
with this patch there would be no build failure when emit-commit-log fails.
What do you think?

>  # Override this with e.g., -s $(srcdir)/some_other_name.texi
>  # if the default $(PACKAGE)-derived name doesn't apply.