Re: [wdiff-bugs] Build problems fixed, please test for 0.5.4 release

[Denver Gingerich]

On 6/23/07, Santiago Vila <address@hidden> wrote:
> On Sat, 23 Jun 2007, Denver Gingerich wrote:
>
> > > Frankly, I think the current build system (using "touch" and similar things)
> > > is too much hacky for a GNU official release. Sometimes I use that trick
> > > on Debian packages because I need to make the Makefiles to believe
> > > that I have not modified something in the Debian .diff.gz, but that
> > > have been always a temporary hack until the next upstream "clean"
> > > version which does not need any hacks.
> >
> > Personally, I'm fine with keeping this hack in because it's for
> > somewhat of an intermediate release.  Once we remake the build system
> > for the package, these sorts of things should become a non-issue, but
> > I don't want to do that in this release because its intent is to be an
> > integration of 0.5g.  Please comment on whether you think this is too
> > hacky, especially if you have lots of experience with GNU packages.
>
> I have some experience packaging GNU packages for Debian, and I have
> never seen a hack like that in an official GNU package.

Good to know.  In that case I will endeavor to remove the hack.

> Anyway, isn't this what automake's "maintainer mode" is for? If the
> makefiles do what they are supposed to do, generated files will always
> have a later timestamp than the files on which they depend, so by
> artificially using "touch", things will work worse, not better.

Do you suggest we put AM_MAINTAINER_MODE in configure.in?  I see from
the automake FAQ that some people don't like maintainer mode
(http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/maintainer-mode.html).
Is it the right thing to do for this sort of situation?

Denver