[Changing the subject.] What I understand from the original posting <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/coreutils/2026-04/msg00138.html> is that a user had an old checkout of a package (here: coreutils) and did a git pull but no ./bootstrap or ./autopull.sh && ./autogen.sh afterwards. Then proceeded with "./configure && make" and got build errors.
This problem can occur in packages with and in packages without a git submodule. I think the main way to prevent this situation is documentation in the HACKING file. It should contain a section Building off the Git repository =============================== Access to the Git repository is described at https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=PACKAGE . After fetching the sources from the Git repository, peek at the comments in bootstrap.conf, then run ./bootstrap Then you can proceed with "./configure" as usual. Each time you want to update the source, do not only "git pull". Instead do git pull && ./bootstrap or Building off the Git repository =============================== Access to the Git repository is described at https://savannah.gnu.org/git/?group=PACKAGE . After fetching the sources from the Git repository, peek at the comments in autogen.sh, then run ./autopull.sh ./autogen.sh Then you can proceed with "./configure" as usual. Each time you want to update the source, do not only "git pull". Instead do git pull && ./autopull.sh ./autogen.sh > The feature you request seems useful, but I don't see how it would be > possible to implement (at least, in a way that is usable). Neither do I. The GNU Build System requires that the user is aware of the state (clean vs. configured vs. built). With Gnulib, there is an additional state (clean vs. bootstrapped vs. configured vs. built). Bruno
