Defining data files to install

[Julie Marchant]

Hi,

I'm a little confused about how to set up Autoconf to install data files
for the program to use later, and I wondered if someone can clear up my
confusion.

For reference, the pertinent program is Project: Starfighter:

http://starfighter.nongnu.org

Starfighter has a few different directories with required data files:
"data", "gfx", "music", and "sound". All files in these directories need
to be installed to a location that gets defined as DATADIR. From what I
understand so far, the directory I want to use is the one stored in the
pkgdatadir variable, and I include files to install there by assigning
them in a Makefile.am to pkgdata_DATA. But listing the files out from a
Makefile.am in the same directory doesn't copy the directory structure,
and if I indicate a directory from the top-level Makefile.am, "make
install" just ignores (or rather, "omits") it and then spits out an
error with no accompanying information.

What am I missing here? How can I install these data files not into the
top-level pkgdatadir, but in the respective appropriate sub-directories
of pkgdatadir (e.g. "$(pkgdatadir)/data" and "$(pkgdatadir)/music")? I
can't find any documentation on how to do this anywhere.

[Eric Blake]

Post by Julie Marchant
Hi,
I'm a little confused about how to set up Autoconf to install data files
for the program to use later, and I wondered if someone can clear up my
confusion.
http://starfighter.nongnu.org
"data", "gfx", "music", and "sound". All files in these directories need
to be installed to a location that gets defined as DATADIR. From what I
understand so far, the directory I want to use is the one stored in the
pkgdatadir variable, and I include files to install there by assigning
them in a Makefile.am to pkgdata_DATA. But listing the files out from a
Makefile.am in the same directory doesn't copy the directory structure,
and if I indicate a directory from the top-level Makefile.am, "make
install" just ignores (or rather, "omits") it and then spits out an
error with no accompanying information.

Makefile.am is read by automake, so your question is more likely to be
answered in the automake manual than the autoconf manual.

Post by Julie Marchant
What am I missing here? How can I install these data files not into the
top-level pkgdatadir, but in the respective appropriate sub-directories
of pkgdatadir (e.g. "$(pkgdatadir)/data" and "$(pkgdatadir)/music")? I
can't find any documentation on how to do this anywhere.

Automake lets you define new targets that are subdirectories. In fact,
a quick search for $(pkgdatadir) found an example that might be
pertinent to your use case:

https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Alternative

But I'm not as good at automake as I am at autoconf, so I'm cc'ing that
list in, in case someone else has more ideas.

[Julie Marchant]

Post by Eric Blake
Automake lets you define new targets that are subdirectories. In fact,
a quick search for $(pkgdatadir) found an example that might be
https://www.gnu.org/software/automake/manual/automake.html#Alternative

Thanks, that turned out to be exactly what I needed.