GNU bug report logs - #51609
version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail

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Package: automake;

Reported by: Ryan Schmidt <automake <at> ryandesign.com>

Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2021 14:51:02 UTC

Severity: normal

Done: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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

From: Ryan Schmidt <automake <at> ryandesign.com>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: version.texi UPDATED field does not account for timezone; can cause
 unnecessary documentation rebuilds, which could fail
Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2021 06:01:44 -0500

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
This bug report was last modified 3 years and 178 days ago.

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