Re: $(srcdir) in man pages and other targets

[Patrice Dumas]

On Fri, Nov 23, 2012 at 09:39:21AM +0100, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> > 
> > Automake sort of checks it but not exactly.  For instance, if you have 
> > the tool and it is rebuilt, the I don't think that automake can check
> > that it is not rebuilt.
> >
> It does, *if* that file is not removed by "make distclean" (and
> distributed files should never be).  For a long-winded example, see:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Errors-with-distclean

You a re right, I didn't realize that correctly (though I have used make
distcheck repeatedly...).

> > Another point is that you may trick automake too, which I believe is
> > what happens with adding $(srcdir) to the reules
> >
> No, you wouldn't fool it, because "make distcheck" runs a VPATH build
> with the srcdir made *readonly*.  So any attempt to modify or add a file
> there will cause an error (unless your build rules use explicit calls to
> "chmod u+w", but then you're asking for trouble).

Right, that's one side of the check, but if you create something in the
$(srcdir), but you also distribute it, then "make distcheck" won't lead
to a rebuild of the file and therefore you will miss that you did
something wrong (creating a file in $(srcdir) although you should have
created it in builddir)..  

It may not be wrong in every cases, for instance it seems to me that it 
makes sense to rebuild in $(srcdir) the Makefile fragments that are 
included by automake.

-- 
Pat