[bug-inetutils] Re: inetutils ChangeLog README-alpha bootstrap.conf...

[Sergey Poznyakoff]

Alfred M. Szmidt <address@hidden> ha escrit:

> Maybe a better wording could be used in README-alpha?  I just don't
> understand why those instructions have to be in a seperate file.

Maybe they don't have to, but that's not what I'm talking about.
It is the file's purpose that's important, not its contents. The
bootstrap script requires that $checkout_only_file points to a
file that is present only in the repository. It is bootstrap's way to 
ensure that it is executed in the source tree checked out from the
repository. Only if that file is present does bootstrap 
proceed (unless --force is used, but that's another story).

Now, README-alpha may well be present in a distributed tarball. That
happens for alpha versions (that's actually what that file serves for:
it provides additional instructions for the users of alpha releases).
Using it as a checkout_only_file makes it possible to run bootstrap
in a source tree extracted from the tarball, which should never be done.

To summarize: the file checkout_only_file points to must reside only in
the repository. Its contents does not matter. FWIW, it may even be
emtpty. 

Regards.
Sergey