Re: [bug-libunistring] ‘cdefs.h’ missing from the distribution

[Ludovic Courtès]

Hi Bruno,

Bruno Haible <address@hidden> writes:

> Hi Ludo,
>
>> - In http://hydra.nixos.org/build/200423/nixlog/1/raw: I renamed the file
>>   lib/unistring/cdefs.h to lib/unistring/cdefs.h.in and added a Makefile
>>   rule for creating lib/unistring/cdefs.h from lib/unistring/cdefs.h.in.
>>   The error is
>>     make[2]: *** No rule to make target `unistring/cdefs.in.h', needed by 
>> `unistring/cdefs.h'.  Stop.
>>   meaning that it used the updated lib/Makefile.am.
>
> The EXTRA_DIST variable was indeed lacking unistring/cdefs.in.h. Does this
> mean that Hydra creates its tarballs using the 'make dist' command?

Yes.

> For snapshots taken from version control, this 'make dist' rule is
> most often not up to date. "make", "make check", and "make install"
> are frequently tested during development, but "make dist" is not.

... which makes it a useful test.  ;-)

> It would be more reliable to just tar up the checkout (with --ignore=.git
> --ignore=.gitignore --ignore=CVS --ignore=.cvsignore etc.), rather than
> to try to use "make dist".

IMO in the end it’s “make dist” that matters, so that’s where testing
should focus (for GNU projects).

Thanks,
Ludo’.