Re: [PATCH] gnulib-tool: Don't assume writable source

[Benno Fünfstück]

Am Mi., 19. Feb. 2020 um 01:14 Uhr schrieb Bruno Haible <address@hidden>:
>
> Benno Fünfstück wrote:
> > If the location in which gnulib-tool is installed is not writable (the
> > files are readonly)
>
> Why would anyone do this?

You a right that this does not make much sense for development usage.
However, distributions also sometimes need to run gnulib-tool as part
of a the build of a package (if the release tarball does not contain
the required gnulib files or building directly from a git source if
there is no release). In that case, it makes sense to have a package
for gnulib to use in builds, also to ensure reproducibility. But then
this package needs to install writable files, which is very awkward or
may even be impossible on some package managers (such as Nix, and
probably also Guix, as the store is read-only).

Benno