Re: [PATCH] {master} missing: do not touch timestamps; only warn for out-of-date files

[Bruno Haible]

Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> I'm almost inclined not to do so, to force the affected
> projects' broken setup to be fixed; i.e., if you are using Automake 1.11,
> you let it install the correct 'missing' program, instead of forcing it
> to use the 'missing' from Automake 1.13.

But developers don't have the impression that they are doing something
wrong when they use an old 'missing' program.

How to reproduce:

=========================== Makefile.am ============================
AUTOMAKE_OPTIONS = foreign
=========================== configure.ac ===========================
AC_INIT
AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE([dummy],[0])
AC_CONFIG_FILES([Makefile])
AC_OUTPUT
====================================================================

Execute this with Automake 1.10.3:
$ aclocal
$ automake -Wall -a -c
configure.ac:2: installing `./install-sh'
configure.ac:2: installing `./missing'

Then execute this with Automake 1.12:
$ aclocal
$ automake -Wall

No warning. How is a developer meant to notice that he's doing something
wrong if 'automake -Wall' does not tell him?

Bruno