autoconf/automake building a distribution?

i'm trying to build a distribution using automake/autoconf.
when i try
"make dist", i get the following output.

cd . && /bin/sh
/Users/pgupta/Documents/Villanova/leda-0.1/missing --
run autoheader
touch ./config.h.in
{ test ! -d LEDA-0.1 || { find LEDA-0.1 -type d ! -perm -200
-exec
chmod u+w {} ';' && rm -fr LEDA-0.1; }; }
mkdir LEDA-0.1
list='m4 doc src'; for subdir in $list; do 
  if test "$subdir" = .; then :; else 
    test -d LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
    || mkdir LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
    || exit 1; 
    (cd $subdir && 
      make  
        top_distdir="." 
        distdir=../LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
        distdir) 
      || exit 1; 
  fi; 
done
make[1]: *** No rule to make target ` ', needed by
`distdir'.  Stop.
make: *** [distdir] Error 1


where do i set the target? in my src/ directory i have
bin_PROGRAMS =
leda and leda_SOURCES = ... a bunch of files what else do i
have to
set ?

i can compile the program etc just fine but its the
distribution that
is causing problems. any help will be appreciated.
thanks

Hello pallav,

* pallav wrote on Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 06:14:10AM CEST:
> i'm trying to build a distribution using
automake/autoconf. when i try
> "make dist", i get the following output.
> 
> cd . && /bin/sh
/Users/pgupta/Documents/Villanova/leda-0.1/missing --
> run autoheader
> touch ./config.h.in
> { test ! -d LEDA-0.1 || { find LEDA-0.1 -type d ! -perm
-200 -exec
> chmod u+w {} ';' && rm -fr LEDA-0.1; }; }
> mkdir LEDA-0.1
> list='m4 doc src'; for subdir in $list; do 
>   if test "$subdir" = .; then :; else 
>     test -d LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
>     || mkdir LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
>     || exit 1; 
>     (cd $subdir && 
>       make  
>         top_distdir="." 
>         distdir=../LEDA-0.1/$subdir 
>         distdir) 
>       || exit 1; 
>   fi; 
> done
> make[1]: *** No rule to make target ` ', needed by
`distdir'.  Stop.
> make: *** [distdir] Error 1

Hmm.  Please show the contents of the file m4/Makefile.am.
Which Automake version are you using, and what system is
this on?

Cheers,
Ralf

Hello Pallav,

Please keep the mailing list in Cc: so others can help/learn
as well
(and I don't have to go search for your original post),
thanks.

* Pallav Gupta wrote on Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 06:38:09PM
CEST:
> 
>  Thanks for getting back. Here is the information you
requested: I'm running 
>  automake 1.6.3 on OSX Tiger 10.8.4 running darwin
kernel 8.9.1. I have an 
>  empty Makefile.am in the m4 directory. However, in my
base directory, the 
>  Makefile.am file looks like this:

[...nothing suspicious...]

>  And my src/Makefile.am looks like this:

[...nothing suspicious either...]

>  Do I need to put something in m4/Makefile.am? Right
now its just an empty 
>  file. Thanks for your time and help on this.

No, it's ok if m4/Makefile.am is empty (but then you could
also remove
it and omit it from listing in configure.ac:AC_CONFIG_FILES
and m4 in
Makefile.am:SUBDIRS).

I had a vague feeling of deja-vu when I read your first
mail, but didn't
know what to look for then.  I've searched a bit now, this
may be it:
Do you happen to have extra spaces following the arguments
of AC_INIT,
as in
  AC_INIT(package , 1.0 , bugaddress)
                 ^     ^
?  Because if you do, please remove them.  M4 only strips
the leading
(unquoted) spaces of macro arguments, not the trailing ones.
 I think
a package name with such a space can lead to weird
failures.

If that was not it, please post configure.ac, or a link to a
tarball of
the package.

Cheers,
Ralf

* Pallav Gupta wrote on Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 07:39:23PM
CEST:
>
> I've tarred the entire directory and it can be
downloaded at this link:
> 
> http://purnea.ee.princeton.edu/~pgupta/pics/leda-0.1.
tar.gz

Thanks.  I think a trailing space after a backslash was the
culprit,
because with this patch (which also fixes another typo),
`make dist'
succeeds for me:

--- leda-0.1/src/Makefile.am	2007-04-04 19:36:51.000000000
+0200
+++ leda-0.1/src/Makefile.am	2007-04-04 20:06:01.000000000
+0200
 -24,7
+24,7 
 		shell.h misc.h 
 		node.h 
 		readline.h 
-		blifreader.h benchreader.h circuitreader.h  
+		blifreader.h benchreader.h circuitreader.h 
 		circuit.h 
 		logicsim.h 
-		coomon.h leda.h 
+		common.h leda.h 


The package still won't work with a VPATH build then, so
distcheck will
also fail.  I'm actually suspecting an Autoconf bug with
AC_CONFIG_LINKS
in the VPATH case ... more on that later.

Cheers,
Ralf

> Hi Ralf,

Thanks for getting back quickly.

>
> Do you happen to have extra spaces following the
arguments of AC_INIT,
> as in
>   AC_INIT(package , 1.0 , bugaddress)
>                  ^     ^
> ?  Because if you do, please remove them.  M4 only
strips the leading
> (unquoted) spaces of macro arguments, not the trailing
ones.  I think
> a package name with such a space can lead to weird
failures.
>

I checked configure.in and I don't have any trailing
whitespace. I  
have the following which looks ok to me:

AC_INIT([LEDA], [0.1], [Pallav Gupta <pallav.guptavillanova.edu>],  
[LEDA])

I've tarred the entire directory and it can be downloaded at
this link:

http://purnea.ee.princeton.edu/~pgupta/pics/leda-0.1.
tar.gz

Thanks for your time.

kind regards,
pallav

* Pallav Gupta wrote on Wed, Apr 04, 2007 at 08:44:10PM
CEST:
> 
>  You're right. I noticed the two problems now and after
fixing them, I also 
>  can get make dist to succeed, but as you said make
distcheck fails. If 
>  you're suspecting an autoconf bug, I'm using autoconf
v2.59. While looking 
>  at ftp.gnu.org the latest version is v2.61 so maybe
the bug might have been 
>  fixed in the newer releases?

Just to finish this thread: the AC_CONFIG_LINKS bug is
present in CVS
Autoconf.  See here for further discussion:
<http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.sysutils
.autoconf.patches/4539>

Cheers,
Ralf