Re: RFC: "make pdf" target for documentation?

["Joseph S. Myers" <joseph at codesourcery dot com>]

On Mon, 9 Oct 2006, Brooks Moses wrote:

> I would like to propose that a "make pdf" target be added to the GCC general
> makefile.

I agree.  If you look at the current GNU Coding Standards you'll see a 
series of targets {,install-}{html,dvi,pdf,ps} and associated directories 
for installation.

At present, we have html, dvi and install-html support.  Because we're 
using an autoconf version before 2.60, we have a special configure option 
--with-htmldir; 2.60 adds the --htmldir option (likewise --pdfdir etc.).  
Automake directories automatically support building these formats, but not 
installing them before automake 1.10 which isn't out yet.  So a move to 
autoconf 2.60/2.61 and automake 1.10 (for gcc and src) will substantially 
help get these targets supported throughout both repositories.

Apart from the new configure options, which will require all toplevel and 
all subdirectories to move to autoconf >= 2.60 before they can be used, 
you can add support bit-by-bit.  For example, you could start by adding 
the new targets to toplevel (in both gcc and src).  Then you could add 
dummy targets that do nothing to the subdirectories without documentation, 
so that the targets can actually be used at toplevel.  Adding proper 
support for the targets to the "gcc" subdirectory, or any other 
subdirectory that doesn't use automake, should be essentially independent 
of changes to other subdirectories.

-- 
Joseph S. Myers
joseph@codesourcery.com