gnulib-tool basics

[Karl Berry]

First, regarding gnulib-tool --help.

--update isn't mentioned under "Operation modes:", although it is one
of the usages.

I suggest mentioning that --import can also be used for updating,
something like this (as I understand it from gnulib-tool.texi):
      --import              import the given modules into the current package;
                              if no modules are specified, update the
                              current package.


Second, I tried gnulib-tool --dry-run --update and got this:

  gnulib-tool: invalid options for 'update' mode
  Try 'gnulib-tool --help' for more information.
  If you really want to modify the gnulib configuration of your project,
  you need to use 'gnulib --import' - at your own risk!

I don't want to modify the configuration ...


Third, I tried gnulib-tool --dry-run --import and got this output:
  Module list with included dependencies:

  File list:
    lib/dummy.c
    m4/onceonly_2_57.m4
  Create directory ./lib
  Create directory ./m4
  cp: cannot create regular file `./lib/dummy.c.tmp': No such file or directory
  gnulib-tool: *** failed
  gnulib-tool: *** Stop.

But my configure.ac says:

gl_EARLY
gl_SOURCE_BASE(gnulib/lib)
gl_M4_BASE(gnulib/m4)
gl_LIB(libgnulib)
gl_MODULES(getopt)
gl_INIT

... so I would have expected it to know to use gnulib/lib and gnulib/m4,
not lib/ and /m4.  It's been a while, but my memory is that it did read
the configure.ac settings last time I tried it.

It's not just a matter of --dry-run; I ran gnulib-tool --import without
the --dry-run, and it did indeed create lib/ and m4/.


Help?

Thanks,
k