automake and ./configure (was: installation paths, option definition)

[Christian Stimming]

Am Samstag, 3. September 2005 23:02 schrieb Neil Williams:
> On Saturday 03 September 2005 9:39 pm, you wrote:
> > Just to finish that other automake/configure discussion:
>
> True. The one advantage is that it builds under a "make" - it does not
> require another ./autogen.sh - it can be a significant advantage during
> development of the associated files because you then only make that
> specific file. autogen takes FAR longer.

Not true. Don't you use "--enable-maintainer-mode"? If you don't, you should. 
It will make these generations happen exactly when you expect them, and not 
only when running ./autogen. By the way, running ./configure is just as fine, 
as long as you don't changed any directories.

> > 4. Add the resulting *output* file in that directory's Makefile.am to any
> > variable that ensures that this file is distributed, e.g.
> > noinst_HEADERS=qsf-dir.h and probably also BUILT_SOURCES=qsf-dir.h
>
> You lose the ability to re-create the file with 'make'.

No. --enable-maintainer-mode will do exactly that.

> > I don't quite understand why the manual rule was added in the first
> > place.
>
> Because it's powerful during development - FAR more useful than putting it
> AC_OUTPUT.

No. The other way round.

Christian