Subject: Re: [PATCH 1/2] preproc: add support for relative names in included fragments

From: Stefano Lattarini <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Feb 2013 19:51:58 +0100

On 02/14/2013 03:53 PM, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Thu, 14 Feb 2013, Stefano Lattarini wrote:
> 
>> From: Peter Rosin <[email-masked]>
>>
>> The rationale for this change is that it is annoying to have
>> to repeat the directory name when including a Makefile fragment.
>> For deep directory structures these repeats can generate a lot
>> of bloat.  It also hinders reuse and easy directory restructuring
>> if all Makefile fragments have to know exactly where they live.
> 
> I was not aware that it is my birthday today but it sure feels like
> it now after reading this email.  Much thanks to Peter and Stefano
> for implementing this.
>
Note that it's Peter the one who should have most of the credit, since
he was the one who set things in motion, wrote all of the code and
documentation (I basically just added tests and did very minor tweaks),
and put up with my nitpicks and bikeshedding.  So thanks Peter!  And
of course, thanks to anyone else who has contributed feedback and
suggestions.

> A substantial blocker for converting large packages to non-recursive
> builds will be eliminated.  Considerable time and electricity will
> be saved.

By chance, do you plan to start using the feature in some package of
yours, even before it lands in a released Automake version?  I'm asking
because it could be some months before the next minor (non-bug-fixing)
Automake release.

Best regards,
  Stefano