Re: Failing to use gnulib bootstrap in libtool

[Bruno Haible]

Eric Blake wrote:
> > The contents of gnulib-cache.m4 is an output of the invocation of 
> > gnulib-tool,
> > and therefore a derivative of the parameters that you pass to gnulib-tool.
> 
> But the current documentation says that 'gnulib-cache.m4' is the ONE 
> output that you SHOULD be keeping in version control.  In fact, that is 
> precisely how m4 works - by versioning just gnulib-cache.m4, it is 
> sufficient to have bootstrap run 'gnulib-tool --update' so that all 
> other developers will pick up the same set of modules as the last 
> developer that made a modification via gnulib-tool --import.

I've now updated the documentation, through the patch below. The changed
sections are published here:
  <http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/Modified-imports.html>
  <http://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/VCS-Issues.html>


2010-09-04  Bruno Haible  <address@hidden>

        Update doc about gnulib-tool.
        * doc/gnulib-tool.texi (VCS Issues): Explain 'gnulib-tool --import' vs.
        'gnulib-tool --update' in more detail.
        Reported by Eric Blake.

--- doc/gnulib-tool.texi.orig   Sat Sep  4 19:25:18 2010
+++ doc/gnulib-tool.texi        Sat Sep  4 19:24:15 2010
@@ -594,20 +594,34 @@
 @item
 In projects which customarily omit from their VCS all files that are
 generated from other source files, none of these files and directories
-are added into the VCS.  The only file that must be added to the VCS
-is @file{gnulib-cache.m4} in the M4 macros directory.  Also, the
-script for restoring files not in the VCS, customarily called
address@hidden or @file{bootstrap}, will typically contain the
-statement for restoring the omitted files:
+are added into the VCS.  As described in @ref{Modified imports}, there
+are two ways to keep track of options and module names that are passed
+to @code{gnulib-tool}.  The command for restoring the omitted files
+depends on it:
+
address@hidden @bullet
address@hidden
+If they are stored in a file other than @code{gnulib-cache.m4}, such as
address@hidden, @file{bootstrap}, @file{bootstrap.conf}, or similar,
+the restoration command is the entire @code{gnulib-tool ... --import ...}
+invocation with all options and module names.
+
address@hidden
+If the project relies on @code{gnulib-tool}'s memory of the last used
+options and module names, then the file @file{gnulib-cache.m4} in the M4
+macros directory must be added to the VCS, and the restoration command
+is:
 
 @smallexample
 $ gnulib-tool --update
 @end smallexample
 
-The @samp{--update} option operates much like the @samp{--import} option,
-but it does not offer the possibility to change the way Gnulib is used.
-Also it does not report in the ChangeLogs the files that it had to add
-because they were missing.
+The @samp{--update} option operates much like the @samp{--add-import}
+option, but it does not offer the possibility to change the way Gnulib is
+used.  Also it does not report in the ChangeLogs the files that it had to
+add because they were missing.
+
address@hidden itemize
 
 Gnulib includes the file @file{build-aux/bootstrap} to aid a developer
 in using this setup.  Furthermore, in projects that use git for