Re: explain that some things may be built in make dist/DIST_SUBDIRS

[Patrice Dumas]

On Mon, Feb 22, 2010 at 10:01:11PM +0100, Ralf Wildenhues wrote:
> Hello Patrice,
> 
> thanks for the report and patch.
> 
> * Patrice Dumas wrote on Sun, Feb 21, 2010 at 11:59:06AM CET:
> > I was confused by the fact that things in DIST_SUBDIRS
> > are not meant to be built nor installed, but that still
> > some files are built, namely the files needing some 
> > special tools to be built.
> 
> I'm confused by this description.  Care to explain in a bit
> more detail (maybe with a small example) what you mean here?
> I assume you mean that, when `make dist' recurses in these
> directories, also all prerequisites of `distdir' in these
> directories get updated?
> 
> Or do you see files below non-SUBDIRS subdirectories which
> are updated at `make all' time?

None of those 2 things. I will take an example. Suppose one have a
texinfo manual in a subdir, called optional_manual/. But one don't 
want to build stuff in this subdir (in a real world example building
stuff in that directory or not would be conditional on an automake
conditional). One could think, let's put this subdir in DIST_SUBDIRS
such that it is not concerned by the build. 

Surprise, during make dist, the info manual will be built. It is not 
wrong, but it is, in my opinion, surprising -- and worth 
documenting specifically.
 
--
Pat