Subject: bug#19299: 25.0.50; "Contributing" button in *About GNU Emacs* no longer works

From: Glenn Morris <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 12:01:52 -0500

Ulrich Mueller wrote:

> In master, the CONTRIBUTE file was recently moved (back) from etc/ to
> the top-level dir. This breaks the corresponding button in the about
> page. To reproduce, type "M-x about-emacs RET" and then press the
> "Contributing" button:
>
>    view-file: /usr/share/emacs/25.0.50/etc/CONTRIBUTE does not exist
>
>>>From its new location, the file won't even be installed any more.
>
> (Note: The file had been moved from top-level to etc in 2007.)

Yes, this file was moved into etc from top-level specifically so it 
would be part of the installed Emacs. Personally I don't think that 
moving it out again makes much sense, but if people really want to do 
that, it needs more work. It needs to be in the installed Emacs, so a
special install rule will need to be written. The doc references that
refer to it being in the etc/ directory (grep will find these) will need
to be rewritten to account for it being in different places in installed
and uninstalled Emacs. Personally I think it would be a lot simpler to
move it back where it was and put a stub CONTRIBUTE at top-level that
just says "see etc/CONTRIBUTE". (But again, personally I don't think
this makes much sense.)

Please also note that ChangeLog entries are written in the present
tense ("deleted", "merged", "renamed", etc), start with capitals, and
end with full-stops.