Re: why doesn't make install put the info files into the tree?

[Ian Lance Taylor]

Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:

> On Wed, 23 May 2001, Marty Leisner wrote:
> 
> > I'm under the impression gnu programs are supposed to put
> > their documentation into the tree when you do 
> >     make install
> 
> That's what I thought as well.
> 
> > With binutils-2.11 (and probably older ones) I need to 
> > do 
> >     make install-info
> > to get the info files installed...
> 
> And the same with GDB.  I never could figure out why.  I even asked that 
> on the GDB list, long time ago, but got zero replies...

It's the result of a very old disagreement of how info files should be
handled.  The Cygnus tree always handled them using a separate install
step.  They are also built using a separate step, `make info'.  The
`cygnus' option in automake implies the `no-installinfo' option.

I have to admit that I no longer really remember the source of the
disagreement.  It may have been due to the fact that Cygnus would
build multiple targets and install them into the same installation
tree, but the info files, which did not vary by target, only needed to
be built and installed once.

It's possible that patches to change this behaviour would be accepted.

Ian