Re: make it possible to avoid symlinks in coreutils' bootstrap

[Paul Eggert]

>> Symlinks pass through the last-modified time of the gnulib files.
>> cp -p also passes through the last-modified time of the gnulib files.
>> So if the first "make" already sees the new files from the gnulib
>> tree through the symlinks, it will also see the new files from
>> the gnulib files through copies made via cp -p.
>
> But the `cp -p' of the new gnulib files happens only after the first
> `make' in the scenario.
>
> It's a typical (for me) "I was tired and I typed `make' before
> `./bootstrap' after updating gnulib sources" scenario.

OK, I see the scenario now.  If this is a real problem, then perhaps
we should have two options, --copy-preserve and --copy.  However, it
won't be a problem for me (I don't use --copy) and it won't be a
problem for Bruno (he does a make distclean after a bootstrap).  Were
you planning to use --copy?