Separate-build-directory "make check" fails in po/

[Eric Siegerman]

Versions:
  - GnuCash 2.6.11 (and many older versions -- basically as far back as
    I can build with my current toolchain)
  - Ubuntu 12.04
  - Ubuntu's intltool 0.50.2-2 package

I'm getting a "make check" failure when I try to build GnuCash in a
separate build directory -- but only if the build directory is within
the source tree (e.g. $HOME/src/gnucash/build).  It dies in po/,
complaining about build-directory files that aren't listed in
POTFILES.skip. (If the build directory is *not* under the source tree
(e.g. $HOME/src/gnucash/../build, "make check" passes.)

N.B.: It's only "make check" that fails; "make" and "make install" are
fine.

The underlying issue seems to be an intltool bug:
    https://bugs.launchpad.net/intltool/+bug/1117944
intltool doesn't know to ignore the source(ish) files that get created
in the build tree, even if the corresponding source-tree file is listed
in POTFILES.skip.

Is this a known problem?  It's mighty suspicious that it (a) is
triggered by the very practice that's recommended on the wiki, (b) is
something that the selftests catch, but even so, (c) seems to have
been around for a very long time.  Makes me wonder whether I'm being
especially dumb...

I was going to update the wiki to recommend *against* this specific
setup (instead of *for* it :-/ ), but wanted to check with others first
what's known about the situation.

Thanks,
  - Eric