Re: [Fwd: Can nobase_pkgdata_DATA take directories? Does not seam so.]

[Hans Deragon]

Sander Niemeijer wrote:
> Hi Hans,
>
> Automake does not support wildcard specification of files (e.g. whole 
> directories). This is to make sure that:
> - a 'make dist' only includes those files from your subdirectories that 
> really should go in a distribution
> - a 'make distcheck' is able to check whether any generated files in 
> your subdirectories are properly cleaned by a 'make distclean'
> - a 'make uninstall' does not remove any files a user may have put in 
> one of your subdirectories

Mmm... the dist target takes directories via EXTRA_DIST, which in a sense is a 
wildcard.  As for the installation, why shouldn't in *_DATA variables allow 
wildcards?  Its up to the author to check if any unwanted files are being installed.

The only place where wildcards should not be allowed is in the uninstall target. 
 If the uninstall target uses *_DATA to determine which file to uninstall, 
maybe the code should be changed.  A dynamically created file should record what 
specific file has been installed to record what file actually has been 
installed.  The uninstall target would then use the content of this dynamically 
created file to uninstall only the relevant files and yes, directories. :)

> And probably even more reasons...
>
> For a project I am working on we were faced with a similar problem. I 
> ended up writing my own script that creates a 'makefile include' 
> containing rules for all my 'wildcard files' (in our case generated 
> documentation files). If you want to see how we did this, just have a 
> look at our open-source BEAT package (downloadable from 
> http://www.science-and-technology.nl/beat/).

I tried your trick and it works.  Thanks, I have two question though.  I have 
the following line:

  include file.lst

Now, if file.lst does not exist, make complains with an error and aborts, even 
though I created a target to specify how to build it.  Do you have a suggestion?

Also, when I call the "all", "install", "dist" targets, I would like to have the 
file.lst target be called, so its be regenerated automatically.  You have any 
advice?

Obviously, if you and I are building systems to emulate wildcards, its because 
there is definitively a need for wildcards to be supported.  Should we make a 
feature request?

> Regards,
> Sander


Thanks, your response is appreciated.
Hans Deragon
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