GNU bug report logs - #52500
misleading description of %reldir%

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Bruno Haible <bruno <at> clisp.org>
To: bug-automake <at> gnu.org
Subject: misleading description of %reldir%
Date: Wed, 15 Dec 2021 05:11:00 +0100

Hi,

The documentation
https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Include
says:

  "A special feature is that if the fragment is in the same directory
   as the base Makefile.am (i.e., %reldir% is .), then %reldir% and
   %canon_reldir% will expand to the empty string as well as eat, if
   present, a following slash or underscore respectively."

IMO, this paragraph implies that if the fragment is in the same directory
as the base Makefile.am
  - %reldir% without a following slash expands to empty,
  - %canon_reldir% without a following underscore expands to empty.
But this is not the case. (And if it were, the %reldir% and
%canon_reldir% feature would be unusable.) In fact,
%reldir% without a following slash expands to a dot, and
%canon_reldir% without a following underscore expands to an underscore.

Suggested new text:

   A special feature is that if the fragment is in the same directory
   as the base Makefile.am (i.e., %reldir% is .), then
     - %reldir% together with a following slash will expand to empty,
     - %canon_reldir% together with a following underscore will expand
       to empty as well.

Bruno

Message #8 received at 52500 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Karl Berry <karl <at> freefriends.org>
To: bruno <at> clisp.org
Cc: 52500 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#52500: misleading description of %reldir%
Date: Sat, 18 Dec 2021 19:27:03 -0700

Hi Bruno,

    %reldir% without a following slash expands to a dot, and
    %canon_reldir% without a following underscore expands to an underscore.

    Suggested new text:

       A special feature is that if the fragment is in the same directory
       as the base Makefile.am (i.e., %reldir% is .), then
         - %reldir% together with a following slash will expand to empty,
         - %canon_reldir% together with a following underscore will expand
           to empty as well.

Thanks much. I added the dot/underscore information you wrote as well.
I pushed it, hope it looks ok ... -k

@@ -10911,12 +10911,20 @@ Similarly, @code{%canon_reldir%} is replaced with the canonicalized
 is a synonym for @code{%canon_reldir%}.
 
 A special feature is that if the fragment is in the same directory as
-the base @file{Makefile.am} (i.e., @code{%reldir%} is @code{.}), then
-@code{%reldir%} and @code{%canon_reldir%} will expand to the empty
-string as well as eat, if present, a following slash or underscore
-respectively.
+the base @file{Makefile.am} (i.e., @code{%reldir%} is @code{.}), then:
+
+@table @code
+@item %reldir%
+together with a following slash expands to the empty string, otherwise
+it expands to a dot;
+
+@item %canon_reldir%
+together with a following underscore expands to the empty string, otherwise
+it expands to an underscore.
+
+@end table

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