From 10386c6542d677bdff6500d4f326ab2d22c550a3 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Reuben Thomas Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2008 07:53:02 +0100 Subject: [PATCH] * doc/automake.texi (wildcards): Improve "Why doesn't Automake support wildcards" node's English and sense. --- ChangeLog | 5 +++++ doc/automake.texi | 43 +++++++++++++++++++------------------------ 2 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 24 deletions(-) diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog index 748d60c..eac06de 100644 --- a/ChangeLog +++ b/ChangeLog @@ -1,3 +1,8 @@ +2008-02-27 Reuben Thomas + + * doc/automake.texi (wildcards): Improve "Why doesn't Automake + support wildcards" node's English and sense. + 2008-02-23 Ralf Wildenhues * lib/am/check.am (check-TESTS): In the case patterns for diff --git a/doc/automake.texi b/doc/automake.texi index c0ace40..2c5dcfa 100644 --- a/doc/automake.texi +++ b/doc/automake.texi @@ -9841,10 +9841,10 @@ version of the tools. @section Why doesn't Automake support wildcards? @cindex wildcards -Developers are lazy. They often would like to use wildcards in -@file{Makefile.am}s, so they don't need to remember they have to -update @file{Makefile.am}s every time they add, delete, or rename a -file. +Developers are lazy. They would often like to use wildcards in +@file{Makefile.am}s, so that they would not need to remember to +update @file{Makefile.am}s every time they add, delete, or rename +a file. There are several objections to this: @itemize @@ -9858,27 +9858,22 @@ because you forgot to add a file in @file{Makefile.am}, it will help you remember to @samp{cvs add} it. @item -Using wildcards makes easy to distribute files by mistake. For +Using wildcards makes it easy to distribute files by mistake. For instance, some code a developer is experimenting with (a test case, -say) but that should not be part of the distribution. +say) that should not be part of the distribution. @item Using wildcards it's easy to omit some files by mistake. For -instance, one developer creates a new file, uses it at many places, -but forget to commit it. Another developer then checkout the -incomplete project and is able to run `make dist' successfully, -even though a file is missing. - -@item -Listing files, you control *exactly* what you distribute. -If some file that should be distributed is missing from your -tree, @samp{make dist} will complain. Besides, you don't distribute -more than what you listed. +instance, one developer creates a new file, uses it in many places, +but forgets to commit it. Another developer then checks out the +incomplete project and is able to run @samp{make dist} successfully, +even though a file is missing. By listing files, @samp{make dist} +@emph{will} complain. @item -Finally it's really hard to @file{forget} adding a file to -@file{Makefile.am}, because if you don't add it, it doesn't get -compiled nor installed, so you can't even test it. +Finally, it's really hard to @emph{forget} to add a file to +@file{Makefile.am}: files that are not listed in @file{Makefile.am} are +not compiled or installed, so you can't even test them. @end itemize Still, these are philosophical objections, and as such you may disagree, @@ -9891,16 +9886,16 @@ not portable to other @command{make} implementations. The only way Automake could support @command{$(wildcard ...)} is by expending @command{$(wildcard ...)} when @command{automake} is run. -Resulting @file{Makefile.in}s would be portable since they would +The resulting @file{Makefile.in}s would be portable since they would list all files and not use @samp{$(wildcard ...)}. However that -means developers need to remember they must run @command{automake} each +means developers would need to remember to run @command{automake} each time they add, delete, or rename files. -Compared to editing @file{Makefile.am}, this is really little win. Sure, +Compared to editing @file{Makefile.am}, this is a very small gain. Sure, it's easier and faster to type @samp{automake; make} than to type @samp{emacs Makefile.am; make}. But nobody bothered enough to write a -patch add support for this syntax. Some people use scripts to -generated file lists in @file{Makefile.am} or in separate +patch to add support for this syntax. Some people use scripts to +generate file lists in @file{Makefile.am} or in separate @file{Makefile} fragments. Even if you don't care about portability, and are tempted to use -- 2.7.4