Hi Karl, thank you for your message and the code review. I agree, and I think I have got an idea. How about removing EXTRA_DIST_LINKS and adding a Makefile variable named DIST_FLAGS *to be set on the fly*? So, for example, imagine I have a package where my_link.txt is a symlink to the ChangeLog file. If I launch
make dist all links will be dereferenced as usually. But if I launch instead make DIST_FLAGS='symlinks' dist all links will be kept. The DIST_FLAGS variable can be extended in the future to enable other space-separated flags, but for now we are only introducing the symlinks keyword (please feel free to propose other names, I am just outlining a mechanism). How does this sound? Additionally we can also keep the EXTRA_DIST_LINKS, *which will still dereference symlinks unless used in conjunction with DIST_FLAGS='symlinks'*. This will have the advantage that symlinks will be *recreated* in case they had got previously dereferenced, but will always be dereferenced if DIST_FLAGS='symlinks' is not specified (100% control). P.S. No, my name is not Jim, I prefer to go only with my nickname when I talk about programming ;) --madmurphy
