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- This is the 'contrib' directory of the GNU Automake distribution.
- Here you'll find additions to the Automake base distribution, in form of
- makefile fragments, m4 macros, scripts, documentation, et cetera. Such
- addition that might be useful for a significant percentage of its general
- audience, but (for one reason or another) are not deemed appropriate for
- inclusion into the Automake core.
- There are several reasons for which a feature can be kept in contrib:
- 1. The long-term usefulness of the feature is debatable and uncertain;
- on-field and real-word testing are necessary to prove or disprove
- its usefulness, before the feature can be committed into the Automake
- core (as doing so too early would later force us to continue the
- support for backward-compatibility, even if the features proves
- flawed or fails to attract widespread use).
- 2. The APIs or overall design of the feature are still unstable, and
- need on-field testing to iron warts and usability bugs, or uncover
- potential flaws.
- 3. The feature was an historical one, mostly obsoleted but still used
- "here and there" in the wild; so we want to to deprecate it and
- remove it from the Automake core, but cannot remove it altogether,
- for the sake of those still-existing usage. So it gets moved in
- contrib.
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