[GNC-dev] make dist (from a really old thread)

[John Ralls]

> On Feb 12, 2021, at 4:34 PM, Stephen M. Butler <Stephen.M.Butler51 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Sorry, but trying to pick up a project from where I left it in Nov 2019 on this thread [GNC-dev] archive of GnuCash <https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2019-November/044408.html>.  Thought I had tried it and got it to work in 2019.
> 
> Today I cloned gnucash into the default folder ('gnucash'); cd into that folder; checked out v4.4; tried make dist; then tried ninja dist.  Got error messages.
> 
> git checkout 4.4
> HEAD is now at 7dd39b092 Release GnuCash 4.4.
> <https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2019-November/044408.html>
> git describe
> 4.4
> <https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2019-November/044408.html>
> make dist
> make: *** No rule to make target 'dist'.  Stop.
> <https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2019-November/044408.html>
> ninja dist
> ninja: error: loading 'build.ninja': No such file or directory
> <https://lists.gnucash.org/pipermail/gnucash-devel/2019-November/044408.html>
> So, after a checkout of a version, what steps are needed to generate the orig.tar file?
> 

https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Release_Process. You probably also need https://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Building; follow whatever links on that page are applicable to your OS. Read carefully so that you understand what you're reading, while this isn't rocket science it does take some brain power. You should also review that archive of GnuCash thread; you got a lot of hand-holding in it and it will go a lot faster if you don't have to ask every one of those questions again.

Note that there have been some changes in the build system: SWIG is now required even to build from a distribution tarball; in exchange it should work to build from a Github-generated one too.

Regards,
John Ralls