Re: Toplevel configure.ac / Makefile.am for optional directories

[Alexandre Duret-Lutz]

>>> "J" == J T Conklin <address@hidden> writes:

[...]

 J> if BUILD_TAO
 J> SUBDIRS += TAO
 J> endif

This means that the contents of TAO is conditionally built, but
the directory itself should be unconditionally configured
(TAO/Makefile is expected to be created) and unconditionally
distributed.

For instance
   ./configure
   make distclean
will fail if TAO/Makefile does not exist.

See the `Conditional Subdirectories' section of the manual for
details.

[...]

 J> $ autoreconf --install --force
 J> Putting files in AC_CONFIG_AUX_DIR, `aux_config'.
 J> Makefile.am:34: required directory ./TAO does not exist
 J> autoreconf: failed to run automake: No such file or directory

 J> Any suggestions?

I'm augmenting the aforementioned section with the following bits.


2004-11-24  Alexandre Duret-Lutz  <address@hidden>

        * doc/automake.texi (Conditional Subdirectories): More comments
        about non-distributed subdirectories.

Index: doc/automake.texi
===================================================================
RCS file: /cvs/automake/automake/doc/automake.texi,v
retrieving revision 1.67
diff -u -r1.67 automake.texi
--- doc/automake.texi   24 Nov 2004 21:03:58 -0000      1.67
+++ doc/automake.texi   24 Nov 2004 22:28:39 -0000
@@ -2412,6 +2412,7 @@
 @code{DIST_SUBDIRS}.
 
 @subsection Non-configured Subdirectories
address@hidden Subdirectories, configured conditionally
 
 The semantic of @code{DIST_SUBDIRS} is often misunderstood by some
 users that try to @emph{configure and build} subdirectories
@@ -2431,7 +2432,7 @@
 Building packages that do not configure every subdirectory is a tricky
 business, and we do not recommend it to the novice as it is easy to
 produce an incomplete tarball by mistake.  We will not discuss this
-topic in depth here, yet for the adventurous there are a few rules to
+topic in depth here, yet for the adventurous here are a few rules to
 remember.
 
 @cartouche
@@ -2455,13 +2456,32 @@
 @end cartouche
 
 In order to prevent recursion in some non-configured directory you
-must therefore ensure that this directory do not appear in
+must therefore ensure that this directory does not appear in
 @code{DIST_SUBDIRS} (and @code{SUBDIRS}).  For instance if you define
 @code{SUBDIRS} conditionally using @code{AC_SUBST} and do not define
 @code{DIST_SUBDIRS} explicitly, it will be default to
 @code{$(SUBDIRS)}; another possibility is to force @code{DIST_SUBDIRS
 = $(SUBDIRS)}.
 
+Of course, directories which are omitted from @code{DIST_SUBDIRS} will
+not be distributed unless you make other arrangements for this to
+happen (for instance always running @code{make dist} in a
+configuration where all directories are known to appear in
address@hidden; or writing a @code{dist-hook} target to
+distribute these directories).
+
address@hidden Subdirectories, not distributed
+In few packages, non-configured directories are not even expected to
+be distributed.  Although these packages do not require the
+aforementioned extra arrangements, there is another pitfall.  If the
+name of a directory appears in @code{SUBDIRS} or @code{DIST_SUBDIRS},
address@hidden will make sure the directory exists.  Consequently
address@hidden cannot be run on such a distribution when one
+directory has been omitted.  One way to avoid this check is to use the
address@hidden method to declare conditional directories; since
address@hidden does not know the values of @code{AC_SUBST}
+variables it cannot ensure the corresponding directory exist.
+
 @node Alternative
 @section An Alternative Approach to Subdirectories
 


-- 
Alexandre Duret-Lutz