Install data directory tree with massive number of files using automake

Question

I have a data directory which I would like automake to generate install and uninstall targets for. Essentially, I just want to copy this directory verbatim to the DATA director

Answer 1

I would use a script to generate a Makefile fragment that lists all the files:

echo 'subdir_files =' > subfiles.mk
find subdir -type f -print | sed 's/^/  /;$q;s/$/ \\/' >> subfiles.mk

and then include this subfiles.mk from your main Makefile.am:

include $(srcdir)/subfiles.mk
nobase_dist_pkgdata_DATA = $(subdir_files)

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A second option is to EXTRA_DIST = subdir, and then to write custom install-data-local and uninstall-local rules.

The problem here is that EXTRA_DIST = subdir will distributes all files in subdir/, including backup files, configuration files (e.g. from your VCS), and other things you would not want to distribute.

Using a script as above let you filter the files you really want to distribute.