HACKING

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Author : Ralf Wildenhues
Date : 2009-05-17 15:32:40
Hash : fcf2f560
Message : Revert Automake license to GPLv2+. Automake will move to GPLv3+ once the Exception statement has been rewritten to use the new GPLv3 exception language. This change does not impact the COPYING file that may be installed by `automake --add-missing'. * COPYING: Revert to GPLv2. All uses changed. * NEWS: Update. Signed-off-by: Ralf Wildenhues <Ralf.Wildenhues@gmx.de>
HACKING
================================================================
= This file

* This file attempts to describe the rules to use when hacking
  automake.

* Don't put this file into the distribution.  Don't mention it in the
  ChangeLog.


================================================================
= Administrivia

* If you incorporate a change from somebody on the net:
  First, if it is a large change, you must make sure they have signed the
  appropriate paperwork.
  Second, be sure to add their name and email address to THANKS

* If a change fixes a test, mention the test in the ChangeLog entry.

* If somebody reports a new bug, mention his name in the ChangeLog entry
  and in the test case you write.  Put him into THANKS.

* The correct response to most actual bugs is to write a new test case
  which demonstrates the bug.  Then fix the bug, re-run the test suite,
  and check everything in.

* Some files in the automake package are not owned by automake.  These
  files should never be edited here.  These files are
      COPYING (from FSF),
      INSTALL (autoconf-patches@gnu.org),
      config.guess, config.sub (config-patches@gnu.org),
      texinfo.tex (bug-texinfo@gnu.org),
  Most of them are updated before release with `make fetch'.

* Changes other than bug fixes must be mentioned in NEWS


================================================================
= Naming

* We've adopted the convention that internal AC_SUBSTs should be
  named with a leading `am__', and internally generated targets should
  be named with a leading `am--'.  This convention is very new
  (as of Feb 7 2001) and so it isn't yet universally used.  But all
  new code should use it.

  We used to use `_am_' as the prefix for an internal AC_SUBST.
  However, it turns out that NEWS-OS 4.2R complains if a Makefile
  variable begins with `_'.  Yay for them.  I changed the target
  naming convention just to be safe.

================================================================
= Editing `.am' files

* Always use $(...) and not ${...}

* Use `:', not `true'.  Use `exit 1', not `false'.

* Use `##' comments liberally.  Comment anything even remotely
  unusual.

* Never use basename or dirname.  Instead use sed

* Do not use `cd' within back-quotes, use `$(am__cd)' instead.
  Otherwise the directory name may be printed, depending on CDPATH.
  More generally, do not ever use plain `cd' together with a relative
  directory that does not start with a dot, or you might end up in one
  computed with CDPATH.

* For install and uninstall rules, if a loop is required, it should be
  silent.  Then the body of the loop itself should print each
  "important" command it runs.  The printed commands should be preceded
  by a single space.


================================================================
= Editing automake.in and aclocal.in

* Indent using GNU style.  For historical reasons, the perl code
  contains portions indented using Larry Wall's style (perl-mode's
  default), and other portions using the GNU style (cperl-mode's
  default).  Write new code using GNU style.

* Don't use & for function calls, unless required.
  The use of & prevents prototypes from being checked.
  Just as above, don't change massively all the code to strip the
  &, just convert the old code as you work on it, and write new
  code without.

* Perl 5 is now OK.


================================================================
= Working with git/CVS

* To regenerate dependent files created by aclocal and automake,
  use the `bootstrap' script.  It uses the code from the source
  tree, so the resulting files (aclocal.m4 and Makefile.in) should
  be the same as you would get if you install this version of
  automake and use it to generate those files.

* Dependent files aclocal.m4, configure and Makefile.in in all
  directories should be up to date in the git repository, so that
  the changes in them can be easily noticed and analyzed.

* Avoid merge commits on the master branch of the public git repository.
  For unpublished changes in your development tree, it's easiest to
  rebase against the current master before applying them, this preserves
  a linear history.

* For changes to appear in more than one branch, apply them to the
  master branch and then cherry-pick them to the stable branch from
  master if possible.  This keeps the master uncluttered and preserves
  meta-data on the stable branches.


================================================================
= Test suite

* Use "make check" and "make maintainer-check" liberally

* Make sure each test file is executable

* Use `keep_testdirs=yes' to keep test directories for successful
  tests also.

================================================================
= Release procedure

* Fetch new versions of the files that are maintained by the FSF.
  Commit.  Unfortunately you need an FSF account to do this.
  (You can also use `make fetch', but that is still woefully incomplete.)

* Update NEWS.  For an alpha release, update README-alpha.

* Update the version number in configure.ac.
  (The idea is that every other alpha number will be a net release.
  The repository will always have its own "odd" number so we can easily
  distinguish net and repo versions.)

* Update ChangeLog.

* Run ./bootstrap, ./configure, make.

* Run `make release-stats' if release statistics in doc/automake.texi
  have not been updated yet.

* Run `make git-release'.
  This will run distcheck to create the tarballs, commit the last
  NEWS/configure.ac/ChangeLog changes, tag the repository, sign
  the tarballs, and upload them.
  Use `make GNUPLOADFLAGS="--user key" git-release' to sign with
  a non-default key.

* Update version number in configure.ac to next alpha number.
  Re-run ./bootstrap and commit.

* Don't forget to `git push' your changes so they appear in the public
  git tree.

* Update the web pages at sources.redhat.com:
  - bump version in index.rst,
  - add entry to news.rst,
  - run `make' to update .html files,
  - create manuals:
      cd doc
      make pdf
      make html MAKEINFOFLAGS=--no-split
  - copy automake.html and automake.pdf to web cvs,
  - add ChangeLog entry and commit.

* Update the manuals at www.gnu.org:
  - Generate manuals:
    cd doc
    wget "http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/~checkout~/texinfo/texinfo/util/gendocs.sh"
    wget "http://savannah.gnu.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs/~checkout~/texinfo/texinfo/util/gendocs_template"
    sh ./gendocs.sh automake  "GNU Automake"
  - copy manuals recursively to web cvs,
  - commit.
  - Check for link errors, fix them, recheck until convergence:
    <http://validator.w3.org/checklink>

* Send announcement at least to autotools-announce@gnu.org, and
  automake@gnu.org.  If not an alpha, announcement must also go to
  info-gnu@gnu.org.  Copy this announcement into the NEWS feed at
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/automake>.

-----

Copyright (C) 2003, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option)
any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.

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