> In other words, dealing with junk like > > apps_build_postgres_src_build_postgres_SOURCES > > is very tiring and failure prone. Is there a reason why it can't > simply be > > apps/build-postgres/src/build-postgres_SOURCES ?
Speaking as a random user, this would only be a win (to me) if the translation could also be significantly messified to keep your target above distinct from, say, apps/build/postgres-src-build/postgres_SOURCES or if this kind of conflict would be at the very least well diagnosed and warned about. But people have to interface automake-generated code with user stuff, and this is usually done through variables. I expect a big problem here. My view is that these (and other) problems disappear if you use a per-directory Makefile.am; but I also see the benefits (esp. compilation speed) of a non-recursive Makefile. So the solution could be to support generating a single Makefile from multiple Makefile.am's in subdirectories. (Just kidding. But interested in seeing the reasons why this is nearly impossible.) Jirka
