Re: Why aren't BUILT_SOURCES removed by "make distclean"?

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hello Reuben,

* Reuben Thomas wrote on Fri, Jul 20, 2007 at 10:34:47PM CEST:
> I have to add $(BUILT_SOURCES) to CLEANFILES to avoid complaints about 
> files that still exist after make distclean. Since the point of 
> BUILT_SOURCES is to get sources built that aren't distributed, it would 
> seem reasonable that they be cleaned up by make distclean.

BUILT_SOURCES is a band-aid to help build some targets early.  It can be
useful for things that are distributed (in which case you have to add
them to EXTRA_DIST, or some other variable that causes distribution, and
in which case you would not want them in CLEANFILES), or that are not
distributed but cleaned upon 'make clean'.  To allow for the choice,
also necessarily means that you have to choose yourself, or neither will
happen.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Ralf