Re: gnulib-tool and autoreconf

[Ralf Wildenhues]

Hi Bruno,

* Bruno Haible wrote on Sun, Dec 07, 2008 at 05:33:38PM CET:
> > > It would seem odd to have 'autoreconf' invoke 'gnulib-tool'. gnulib-tool
> > > is a tool that *fetches* source files, whereas autoreconf is a tool that
> > > *combines* source files, generating additional files from them.
> > > Therefore gnulib-tool logically belongs before autoreconf.
[...]
> > So I don't really see the principal difference.
> 
> There are two differences between gnulib-tool and the files that are
> installed by aclocal / automake:
>   - gnulib-tool does not make releases, therefore one cannot
>     assume that gnulib-tool is installed in a standard location,
>   - gnulib-tool changes rapidly, therefore re-executing gnulib-tool
>     may require subsequent work from the developer. This is not the
>     case with automake, because the files imported by automake have
>     an essentially stable contract.
> For both reasons, it is not advisable that autoreconf runs gnulib-tool.

Thanks for the rationale, that sounds quite reasonable.

Cheers,
Ralf