Subject: bug#51609: closed (Re: bug#51609: version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail)

From: [email-masked] (GNU bug Tracking System)
Date: Sun, 28 Nov 2021 01:46:02 +0000

Your bug report

#51609: version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail

which was filed against the automake package, has been closed.

The explanation is attached below, along with your original report.
If you require more details, please reply to [email-masked].

-- 
51609: http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=51609
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Subject: Re: bug#51609: version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail
From: Karl Berry <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2021 18:45:18 -0700
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

Subject: version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail
From: Ryan Schmidt <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2021 06:01:44 -0500
List-Id: <debbugs-submit.debbugs.gnu.org>

The method by which automake decides to regenerate version.texi and thereby to regenerate texinfo-based documentation is flawed because it does not account for the fact that the user's timezone may be different from the developer's timezone. The version.texi UPDATED and UPDATED-MONTH fields do not specify a timezone. If configure has been modified and if the user's timezone is sufficiently different from the developer's, then UPDATED or less frequently UPDATED-MONTH may change even though the texinfo sources' timestamps have not, which will cause an unnecessary documentation rebuild, which may fail. For a build failure that was caused by this flaw, see:

https://trac.macports.org/ticket/63570#comment:5