GNU bug report logs - #12064
distclean failure with Automake 1.12.2

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Peter Johansson <trojkan <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: distclean failure with Automake 1.12.2
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:12:30 +1000

Hi automakers,

I was about to make a release when I discovered that distcheck suddenly 
didn't work anymore. The distclean rule failed with

Making distclean in doc
make[2]: Entering directory `/home/peterJo/projects/software/yat-0.8.x/yat-0.8.2/_build/doc'
Makefile:498: ../yat/classifier/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory
Makefile:499: ../yat/normalizer/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory

This was for a stable branch release so there had just been minor 
changes in two .cc files and no changes at all wrt the build system. 
After some investigation I found that Automake 1.12.2 has changed the 
order directories are traversed for clean rules. I must say I find it 
unexpected that behaviour like this is changed between 1.12.1 and 
1.12.2. I thought this kind of changes were only introduced when bumping 
versions from say 1.11 to 1.12 and not between stable releases.

The reason I got the failure is that files doxygen.mk are included into 
doc/Makefile. These files are generated in the corresponding Makefile 
and listed under DISTCLEANFILES so they are deleted during 'make 
distclean'. As SUBDIRS in top Makefile.am is SUBDIRS = doc yat that was 
not a problem before since doc was entered first during cleaning and 
doc/Makefile was already gone when the doxygen.mk files were removed. 
Perhaps a strange use case, but still I wanted to report it.

I think I've found a workaround so I can get out the release without 
needing to downgrade Automake.

Thanks,
Peter

Message #8 received at 12064 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: Peter Johansson <trojkan <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 12064 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#12064: distclean failure with Automake 1.12.2
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 11:08:50 +0200

severity 12064 minor
thanks

On 07/27/2012 04:12 AM, Peter Johansson wrote:
> Hi automakers,
> 
> I was about to make a release when I discovered that distcheck suddenly didn't work
> anymore.  The distclean rule failed with
> 
> Making distclean in doc
> make[2]: Entering directory `/home/peterJo/projects/software/yat-0.8.x/yat-0.8.2/_build/doc'
> Makefile:498: ../yat/classifier/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory
> Makefile:499: ../yat/normalizer/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory
>
[Aside:
 This seems quite a complex and brittle occurrence of inter-directory dependencies;
 have you thought about the possibility of converting to a non-recursive setup?  I
 have done so with Automake itself (since version 1.12), and have been very, very
 happy with that move so far.]

> This was for a stable branch release so there had just been minor changes in two .cc files
> and no changes at all wrt the build system. After some investigation I found that Automake
> 1.12.2 has changed the order directories are traversed for clean rules.
>
I thought of this change as a mere cleanup actually, since the previous different
order of directory traversal for clean rules was basically a relic needed by the
older (and now long-dead) implementation of automatic dependency tracking:
<http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/history/automake-history.html#First-Take-on-Dependencies>

> I must say I find
> it unexpected that behaviour like this is changed between 1.12.1 and 1.12.2. I thought this
> kind of changes were only introduced when bumping versions from say 1.11 to 1.12 and not
> between stable releases.
>
> The reason I got the failure is that files doxygen.mk are included into doc/Makefile.
> These files are generated in the corresponding Makefile and listed under DISTCLEANFILES
> so they are deleted during 'make distclean'. As SUBDIRS in top Makefile.am is
> "SUBDIRS = doc yat" that was not a problem before since doc was entered first during
> cleaning and doc/Makefile was already gone when the doxygen.mk files were removed.
>
> Perhaps a strange use case, but still I wanted to report it.
>
And you did well; perhaps this this worth some documentation addition?
Not sure.  Anyway, a good reason to keep the bug report open for now.

> I think I've found a workaround
>
Curios: which workaround?

> so I can get out the release without needing to
> downgrade Automake.
> 
> Thanks,
> Peter
> 

Regards,
  Stefano

Message #13 received at 12064 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Peter Johansson <trojkan <at> gmail.com>
To: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 12064 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#12064: distclean failure with Automake 1.12.2
Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2012 20:58:54 +1000

Hi Stefano,

On 7/27/12 7:08 PM, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> severity 12064 minor
> thanks
>
> On 07/27/2012 04:12 AM, Peter Johansson wrote:
>> Hi automakers,
>>
>> I was about to make a release when I discovered that distcheck suddenly didn't work
>> anymore.  The distclean rule failed with
>>
>> Making distclean in doc
>> make[2]: Entering directory `/home/peterJo/projects/software/yat-0.8.x/yat-0.8.2/_build/doc'
>> Makefile:498: ../yat/classifier/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory
>> Makefile:499: ../yat/normalizer/doxygen.mk: No such file or directory
>>
> [Aside:
>   This seems quite a complex and brittle occurrence of inter-directory dependencies;
>   have you thought about the possibility of converting to a non-recursive setup?  I
>   have done so with Automake itself (since version 1.12), and have been very, very
>   happy with that move so far.]
>
Yes, we have converted to non-recursive Makefile in trunk since that 
branch was created, and to get rid of this hack was one the reasons we 
decided to do so.

>> This was for a stable branch release so there had just been minor changes in two .cc files
>> and no changes at all wrt the build system. After some investigation I found that Automake
>> 1.12.2 has changed the order directories are traversed for clean rules.
>>
> I thought of this change as a mere cleanup actually, since the previous different
> order of directory traversal for clean rules was basically a relic needed by the
> older (and now long-dead) implementation of automatic dependency tracking:
> <http://www.gnu.org/software/automake/history/automake-history.html#First-Take-on-Dependencies>
>
>> I must say I find
>> it unexpected that behaviour like this is changed between 1.12.1 and 1.12.2. I thought this
>> kind of changes were only introduced when bumping versions from say 1.11 to 1.12 and not
>> between stable releases.
>>
>> The reason I got the failure is that files doxygen.mk are included into doc/Makefile.
>> These files are generated in the corresponding Makefile and listed under DISTCLEANFILES
>> so they are deleted during 'make distclean'. As SUBDIRS in top Makefile.am is
>> "SUBDIRS = doc yat" that was not a problem before since doc was entered first during
>> cleaning and doc/Makefile was already gone when the doxygen.mk files were removed.
>>
>> Perhaps a strange use case, but still I wanted to report it.
>>
> And you did well; perhaps this this worth some documentation addition?
> Not sure.  Anyway, a good reason to keep the bug report open for now.
>
Well, I found it easily in NEWS. When I read the NEWS in your release 
announcement I couldn't connect the dots that this would bite. I guess 
that's the nature of hacks.
>> I think I've found a workaround
>>
> Curios: which workaround?
I moved the removal of doxygen.mk to doc/Makefile

http://dev.thep.lu.se/yat/changeset/2794

Cheers,
Peter

Message #18 received at 12064-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: Peter Johansson <trojkan <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 12064-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#12064: distclean failure with Automake 1.12.2
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:51:31 +0100

Reference:
<http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=12064>

Since I've seen no further reports of similar problems, and since we
have concluded the issue in question wasn't due to an Automake bug,
but rather to a legitimate-but-slightly-backward-incompatible change
in Automake's behaviour (change that I stupidly introduced in a minor
version, rather than in a major version as it would have been
appropriate -- sorry again about that), I'm closing this bug report.

If anybody has further observations or objections, feel free to
continue the discussion here; that should still be possible even
if the bug has been closed.

Thanks,
  Stefano

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