[Bug-gnulib] serial numbers in .m4 files: are they still useful?

[Jim Meyering]

Hi guys!

In gnulib and coreutils, we're considering getting rid of the
serial number line in each .m4 file.  I see that acinstall uses them,
but don't see if/where acinstall is itself used.

Is there any reason to keep them?

  To: Paul Eggert <address@hidden>
  From: Jim Meyering <address@hidden>
  Date: Sat, 09 Aug 2003 22:29:52 +0200
  Cc: address@hidden, address@hidden
  Subject: Re: regex.m4 encoding problem; '# serial'

  Paul Eggert <address@hidden> wrote:
  ...
  > While we're on the subject of serial number, would anyone mind if I
  > got rid of header comments like 'serial 19'?  I seem to recall there
  > was some sentiment for getting rid of the serial numbers now that
  > everything's CVSed, but don't recall the resolution of that.

  I think there's some small value, but admit it's a pain to deal with those.
  I wouldn't object to removing them.