[Zlib-devel] zlib 1.2.3.9 is out (fwd)

[Mark Adler]

On Apr 4, 2010, at 1:23 PM, Enrico Weigelt wrote:
>> zlib.3.pdf in order to make sure before distributing that 
>> the pdf matches the source man page.  (Does nothing when 
>> the user runs it unless they changed zlib.3.)
> 
> why is that file in the source dist at all ?

Because zlib.3 is unreadable, and many will not have the software to render the documentation to something readable.  Everyone has a PDF reader.

>> zconf.in.h to make sure before distributing that it matches 
>> zconf.h.cmakein.  (Does nothing when the user runs it unless 
>> they changed zconf.h.cmakein.)
> 
> wouldnt it be better to have some separate (maintainer-only)
> rule for that ?

No, because I might forget to run it.  I do make distclean all the time.  You might also notice the odd "rm -f .DS_Store" in there, which gets rid of some cruft that is unique to my operating system.  Those things are completely harmless as part of make distclean.

>> zconf.h to provide that source file for those that build 
>> zlib using something other than configure and make,
> 
> does anyone still do that ?

Yes.

> shouldnt be specially-tailored versions of zconf.h for those
> specific platforms ?

It's not necessary.  Also the last thing I want is even *more* versions of zconf.h to update when I make changes.

>> Makefile to tell the user to run configure before trying to 
>> run make if they try to run make,
> 
> Isnt this totally obvious ?

If you saw the zlib email I get, you would know that *many* things you may think are obvious are in fact not obvious.

Mark