Re: [wdiff-bugs] Build problems fixed, please test for 0.5.4 release

[Santiago Vila]

On Sun, 24 Jun 2007, Denver Gingerich wrote:

> On 6/23/07, Santiago Vila <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Anyway, isn't this what automake's "maintainer mode" is for? If the
> > makefiles do what they are supposed to do, generated files will always
> > have a later timestamp than the files on which they depend, so by
> > artificially using "touch", things will work worse, not better.
> 
> Do you suggest we put AM_MAINTAINER_MODE in configure.in?

Not exactly. I suggest that you use maintainer mode as a way to ensure
that files have proper timestamps, so that "touch" may be avoided completely.
Once this is achieved, you can turn it off again and concentrate on
the real code, not the makefiles.

> I see from
> the automake FAQ that some people don't like maintainer mode
> (http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/html_node/maintainer-mode.html).
>  Is it the right thing to do for this sort of situation?

I don't like maintainer mode either, but only because I'm really a
packager, not a maintaner. As a packager, I like the fact that GNU packages
may be built by "./configure; make; make install" without the need of
automake, autoconf, or anything like that.

If you need mantainer mode to generate files which have proper timestamps,
enable maintainer mode. Just remember to switch it off before making
a spanshot tarball, or before making the final release.