Re: Mutilated stdlib.h

[Ralf Wildenhues]

* Bruno Haible wrote on Sat, Apr 02, 2011 at 02:21:24AM CEST:
>   - If gnulib-tool removes the generated files stdio.h, stdlib.h, and similar,
>     the "make" process will rebuild a majority of the .o files and all
>     tests programs. Not much of a win, compared to running "make clean".

I agree that removing them is not a good idea.  It would be a good idea
however if all files created at config.status run time had proper
rebuild rules in place in the makefile.  Ideally, those rebuild rules
work lazily for headers which are included often (i.e., if the contents
don't change, the file isn't updated).

A nice and clean solution to would require a AC_CONFIG_FILES_LAZY macro
or similar (similarly to how AC_CONFIG_HEADERS works, but it should also
work if the second macro argument modified the output file further).

Cheers,
Ralf