Re: git-version-gen not working with Savannah/cgit snapshots

[Bruno Haible]

G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> I've
> become uncertain about whether groff's build is doing to the right thing
> with respect to the '.version' file that it creates in Makefile.am (by
> running git-version-gen).

GNU gettext's Makefile.am happens to have the same rules as groff's Makefile.am.
As far as I understand the intent:
  - .tarball-version is a file that the maintainer creates when they are
    about to create a new release.
  - The git-version-gen output is derived from this file (if present) and from
    the git history.
  - The .version file is a cache of the git-version-gen output, so that it can
    be used as a dependency in Makefile rules.

> In Git checkouts, this file has a tendency to
> keep stale version string in it that grows progressively staler

Yes, I observe this as well, in GNU gettext.

Bruno