GNU bug report logs - #14079
Absolute Paths In EXTRA_DIST will cause "make distcheck" failure.

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

From: Mostafa <mostafa_working_away <at> yahoo.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: Absolute Paths In EXTRA_DIST will cause "make distcheck" failure.
Date: Thu, 28 Mar 2013 00:11:30 -0700 (PDT)

[Message part 1 (text/plain, inline)]

Hello,

Absolute paths in EXTRA_DIST will cause "make distcheck" failure. Attached is a set of files to reproduce the error. The description of how to reproduce the error and my analysis of why it occurs can be found in "$(top_srcdir)/build_autotools/README". Please note that nowhere in the automake documentation does it say one cannot use absolute paths in EXTRA_DIST.

Thanks,

Mostafa

[ExtraDistAbsPath.tar.gz (application/x-gzip, attachment)]

Message #8 received at 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Mostafa <mostafa_working_away <at> yahoo.com>
To: 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Clarification.
Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:40:25 -0700 (PDT)

To clarify, what is meant by absolute path in EXTRA_DIST is any path that starts with "$(abs_top_srcdir)" or "$(abs_srcdir)".

Message #11 received at 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: Mostafa <mostafa_working_away <at> yahoo.com>
Cc: 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#14079: Absolute Paths In EXTRA_DIST will cause "make
	distcheck" failure.
Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2013 17:32:00 +0200

severity 14079 minor
stop

Hi Mostafa.  Thanks for the report, and sorry for the shameful delay.

On 03/28/2013 08:11 AM, Mostafa wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> Absolute paths in EXTRA_DIST will cause "make distcheck" failure.
>
Yes, Automake doesn't really support distributing files outside the
source tree and the build tree [1].  While that might work, it is more
by accident than by design; we should make the users aware of this fact.

  [1] Unless you write a careful 'dist-hook' target yourself.

> Attached is a set of files to reproduce the error. The description of how
> to reproduce the error and my analysis of why it occurs can be found in
> "$(top_srcdir)/build_autotools/README".
>
Thank you for taking time to do that.  I'll copy and paste the most relevant
part of your analysis, for reference:

    If you look at the above generated Makefile you see that the data structure
    "dist_files" is populated using the variables from EXTRA_DIST by stripping
    prefixes from those variables that match "$(srcdir)" and "$(top_srcdir)",
    but not their absolute path variants. Hence the following fails when
    executed because "$$file" expands to an absolute path and "$$d" expands
    to ".":
      cp -p $$d/$$file "$(distdir)/$$file"

> Please note that nowhere in the automake documentation does it say one
> cannot use absolute paths in EXTRA_DIST.
> 
Perhaps we should enhance the documentation (esp. section 14, "What Goes in
a Distribution") to make this Automake limitation clearer.  Care to attempt
a patch.  Otherwise I'll get to it, eventually (hopefully soon).

> Thanks,
> 
> Mostafa

Best regards,
  Stefano

Message #16 received at 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefano Lattarini <stefano.lattarini <at> gmail.com>
To: 11524 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Cc: Dagobert Michelsen <dam <at> opencsw.org>, David Fang <fang <at> csl.cornell.edu>,
 Mostafa <mostafa_working_away <at> yahoo.com>, 15681 <at> debbugs.gnu.org,
 Automake List <automake <at> gnu.org>, Nicolas Joly <njoly <at> pasteur.fr>,
 16447 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, 14760 <at> debbugs.gnu.org, Thomas Jahns <jahns <at> dkrz.de>,
 14079 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Declaring limited "bug bankruptcy" for Automake
Date: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 01:49:15 +0100

tags 11524 wontfix
tags 14079 wontfix
tags 14760 wontfix
tags 16447 wontfix
tags 15681 wontfix
close 11524
close 14079
close 14760
close 15681
close 16447
stop

Due to my lack of time to dedicate to Automake, I'm declaring
a limited bug bankruptcy on old bugs, in case they deal with
testsuite-only glitches on exotic platforms, or with minor
documentation glitches.  Apologies to the original reporters.

That said, if you have time, feel free to re-run the testsuite
on the master branch and open new bugs for any failure you
still see there.  Also make sure to add as much detail as
possible (e.g., the content of the relevant files for failed
tests, rather than just the content of the .log files
associated to the tests).

Thanks, and apologies,
  Stefano

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