Re: gettextize mutating auto{conf,make} files

[Bruno Haible]

John Darrington wrote:
> If gettextize is allowed to run multiple times in the same source
> tree, then it makes makefile.am and autoconf.ac break.  It adds things
> even if they're already present.  So Makefile.am ends up looking like
>
>
> SUBDIRS= intl m4  intl m4  intl m4  intl m4  intl m4  intl m4
>
> EXTRA_DIST= config.rpath mkinstalldirs  config.rpath mkinstalldirs
>  mkinstalldirs  config.rpath mkinstalldir
>
> and autoconf.ac as
>
> AC_OUTPUT(po/Makefile.in m4/Makefile intl/Makefile po/Makefile.in
> m4/Makefile intl/Makefile po/Makefile.in m4/Makefile intl/Makefile )

This is not the intended use of the gettextize program. The gettext
documentation says: "gettextize ... used for two purposes:

   * As a wizard, when a package is modified to use GNU `gettext' for
     the first time.

   * As a migration tool, for upgrading the GNU `gettext' support in a
     package from a previous to a newer version of GNU `gettext'.
"

> The automake developers consider this to be a bug in gettext.  So do
> I.

After you've read the section "CVS Issues / Integrating with CVS" of the
gettext manual, things will be clearer.

Bruno