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automake-1.16: The dist Hook

 
 14.3 The dist Hook
 ==================
 
 Occasionally it is useful to be able to change the distribution before
 it is packaged up.  If the ‘dist-hook’ rule exists, it is run after the
 distribution directory is filled, but before the actual distribution
 archives are created.  One way to use this is for removing unnecessary
 files that get recursively included by specifying a directory in
 ‘EXTRA_DIST’:
 
      EXTRA_DIST = doc
      dist-hook:
              chmod -R u+w $(distdir)/doc
              rm -rf `find $(distdir)/doc -type d -name RCS`
 
 The ‘dist-hook’ recipe should not assume that the regular files in the
 distribution directory are writable; this might not be the case if one
 is packaging from a read-only source tree, or when a ‘make distcheck’ is
 being done.  Similarly, the recipe should not assume that the
 subdirectories put into the distribution directory as a result of being
 listed in ‘EXTRA_DIST’ are writable.  So, if the ‘dist-hook’ recipe
 wants to modify the content of an existing file (or ‘EXTRA_DIST’
 subdirectory) in the distribution directory, it should explicitly to
 make it writable first:
 
      EXTRA_DIST = README doc
      dist-hook:
              chmod u+w $(distdir)/README $(distdir)/doc
              echo "Distribution date: `date`" >> $(distdir)/README
              rm -f $(distdir)/doc/HACKING
 
    Two variables that come handy when writing ‘dist-hook’ rules are
 ‘$(distdir)’ and ‘$(top_distdir)’.
 
    ‘$(distdir)’ points to the directory where the ‘dist’ rule will copy
 files from the current directory before creating the tarball.  If you
 are at the top-level directory, then ‘distdir = $(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)’.
 When used from subdirectory named ‘foo/’, then ‘distdir =
 ../$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/foo’.  ‘$(distdir)’ can be either a relative or
 absolute path; do not assume a particular form.
 
    ‘$(top_distdir)’ always points to the root directory of the
 distributed tree.  At the top level it’s equal to ‘$(distdir)’.  In the
 ‘foo/’ subdirectory ‘top_distdir = ../$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)’.
 ‘$(top_distdir)’ can also be either a relative or absolute path.
 
    When packages are nested using ‘AC_CONFIG_SUBDIRS’ (⇒
 Subpackages), then ‘$(distdir)’ and ‘$(top_distdir)’ are relative to
 the package where ‘make dist’ was run, not to any sub-packages involved.
 

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