Re: Subdirectories: automake wants GNU mandatory files in every directory

[Alexandre Duret-Lutz]

>>> "Stephane" == Stephane Bortzmeyer <address@hidden> writes:

 Stephane> I use automake for a project with subdirectories (here a test with a
 Stephane> dummy program). When I change a Makefile.am in a subdirectory, 'make'
 Stephane> cannot rebuild the files because it runs automake with the --gnu
 Stephane> option, which is fine for the topmost directory, but not for
 Stephane> subdirectories which do not have INSTALL, README, etc.

 Stephane> automake returns an error status (so make stops) but
 Stephane> Makefile.in is created so the next time, things are
 Stephane> fine.

(Automake 1.9 will not create Makefile.in on error for this reason.)

[...]

 Stephane> kiwi:Programmation/C/automake-plugins % make
 Stephane> make  all-recursive
 Stephane> Making all in plugins
 Stephane> Making all in example
 Stephane> Making all in foobar
 Stephane> cd . && /bin/sh ./config.status Makefile depfiles
 Stephane> config.status: creating Makefile
 Stephane> config.status: executing depfiles commands

If there is a config.stats in plugins/example/foobar there is
also a configure and a configure.(in|ac).  So foobar is the
top-level directory of a subpackage, and Automake rightly
requires top-level files in that directory.  

If you do not want these files in foobar, you have to configure
that subpackage so it does not need them, using one of the
syntaxes Ralf mentioned.
-- 
Alexandre Duret-Lutz