On Mon, Jun 2, 2025, at 12:12 PM, Nick Bowler wrote: > On Sun, Jun 01, 2025 at 06:48:38PM -0500, Bob Friesenhahn wrote: >> It seems a shame that a distribution tarball will lack a source file >> due to makefile build rules. Build rules are a simple technical >> issue, which have been solved before, and are even already supported >> by Automake. > > I agree wholeheartedly. The bootstrap script forms part of the > corresponding source code for configure and should definitely be > included in the distribution.
I generally agree with this. Everything that is needed to do development on Automake should be included in each Automake tarball release. [Footnote: I can see an argument that "everything that is needed to do development" is in fact *the complete VCS history*, but that goes against the entire tradition of making tarballs so let's not go there today.] Autoconf's version of the bootstrap script makes an attempt to match the semantics of autoreconf both with and without `--force`, i.e. it doesn't (well, isn't supposed to, I'm not 100% confident that this _works_) modify `configure` or `Makefile.in`, or any of the other files that are shipped in tarballs but not stored in the VCS, unless --force is given on the command line. Perhaps Automake's script could be revised to do the same? zw
