I use automake for a project with subdirectories (here a test with a dummy program). When I change a Makefile.am in a subdirectory, 'make' cannot rebuild the files because it runs automake with the --gnu option, which is fine for the topmost directory, but not for subdirectories which do not have INSTALL, README, etc.
automake returns an error status (so make stops) but Makefile.in is created so the next time, things are fine. Tested with automake 1.8.3 on netBSD and automake 1.8.5 on Debian. kiwi:Programmation/C/automake-plugins % make make all-recursive Making all in plugins Making all in example Making all in foobar cd . && /bin/sh /home/bortzmeyer/Programmation/C/automake-plugins/missing --run automake-1.8 --gnu Makefile Makefile.am: required file `./INSTALL' not found Makefile.am: required file `./NEWS' not found Makefile.am: required file `./README' not found Makefile.am: required file `./AUTHORS' not found Makefile.am: required file `./ChangeLog' not found Makefile.am: required file `./COPYING' not found *** Error code 1 Stop. make: stopped in /home/bortzmeyer/Programmation/C/automake-plugins/plugins/foobar *** Error code 1 Stop. make: stopped in /home/bortzmeyer/Programmation/C/automake-plugins/plugins *** Error code 1 Stop. make: stopped in /home/bortzmeyer/Programmation/C/automake-plugins *** Error code 1 Stop. make: stopped in /home/bortzmeyer/Programmation/C/automake-plugins kiwi:Programmation/C/automake-plugins % make make all-recursive Making all in plugins Making all in example Making all in foobar cd . && /bin/sh ./config.status Makefile depfiles config.status: creating Makefile config.status: executing depfiles commands
