Hi,
gnulib-tool is being used in two contexts:
A) Directly by a user, who wants to type the minimum of arguments.
B) By an autogen.sh or bootstrap script, where it is important to
keep a clear separation between files that are "input" (stored in VCS)
and files that are "output" (not in VCS).
Currently, "gnulib-tool --import" is trying to satisfy both use cases,
but does not satisfy either of them fully:
- User A has no way to undo an --import of a module without modifying
gnulib-cache.m4 by hand.
- User B has to remove gnulib-cache.m4 before running gnulib-tool.
I would propose to
- Rename the current --import option to --add-import,
- Introduce a new --import option, that is like the previous --import
option except that it ignores the contents of gnulib-cache.m4,
- Add a --remove-import option that can be used to remove a module
from the list of modules (before dependency computation).
'bootstrap' would not have to change, because it already invokes
'gnulib-tool --import'.
Opinions? Objections?
Bruno
