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(maintain.info)Distribution tar Files

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Distribution tar Files
======================

   The tar file for version M.N of program `foo' should be named
`foo-M.N.tar'.  It should unpack into a subdirectory named `foo-M.N'.
Tar files should not unpack into files in the current directory,
because this is inconvenient if the user happens to unpack into a
directory with other files in it.

   Here is how the `Makefile' for Bison creates the tar file.  This
method is good for other programs.

     dist: bison.info
             echo bison-`sed -e '/version_string/!d' \
               -e 's/[^0-9.]*\([0-9.]*\).*/\1/' -e q version.c` > .fname
             -rm -rf `cat .fname`
             mkdir `cat .fname`
             dst=`cat .fname`; for f in $(DISTFILES); do \
                ln $(srcdir)/$$f $$dst/$$f || { echo copying $$f; \
                  cp -p $(srcdir)/$$f $$dst/$$f ; } \
             done
             tar --gzip -chf `cat .fname`.tar.gz `cat .fname`
             -rm -rf `cat .fname` .fname

   Source files that are symbolic links to other file systems cannot be
installed in the temporary directory using `ln', so use `cp' if `ln'
fails.

   Using Automake is a good way to take care of writing the `dist'
target.