Re: [PATCH] distcheck: ensure dist-hook fails if syntax-check fails

[Jim Meyering]

Stefano Lattarini wrote:

> On Sunday 16 October 2011, Jim Meyering wrote:
>>
>> Thanks.  However, I run the syntax-checks solely from srcdir builds.
>> For me at least, imposing the VPATH regimen for that rule is an added
>> maintenance burden (and slight obfuscation) that brings little to no benefit.
>>
> Perfectly fine by me; I had pointed out the limitation only because I
> wasn't sure whether it was a consciously accepted one, or the result
> of an oversight.  Your reply clarifies the matter perfectly.
>
> But I leave you with a micro-nit (stress on "micro"): wouldn't it be
> worthwhile to add a comment somewhere stating that syntax-checks are
> only expected to work from non-VPATH builds?

I don't want to preclude such improvements.

If someone finds it annoying enough that "make syntax-check"
does not work in a VPATH build, maybe they'll discover that
nearly everything works, and fix the few nits.
Then, as long as there's a distcheck (or related) rule
that verifies syntax-check works also with VPATH builds,
avoiding future regressions should be easy.