makedist - a distribution kit maker

       Larry Wall <lwall@netlabs.com> (version 2.0)
       Raphael Manfredi <Raphael.Manfredi@pobox.com>

Makedist  is  a  rather  simpleminded  shar  program  that  knows how to pack files into multiple kits of
       approximately 50000 bytes each.  The shar scripts produced assume very little about the  target  machine;
       there  is correspondingly little error checking done compared to other shar programs. Alternatively, with
       the -c option, you can create a directory containing the whole source tree, and then  pack  it  up  using
       your own shell archiver.

       If  you are using the copyright expansion feature (as determined by packinit), then you have to pack your
       distribution using this program to ensure the copyright is correctly set.

       In order to run makedist you have to do two things:

       1)  Create a .package file in the package's top-level directory by running packinit.  This  program  will
           ask you about your package and remember what you tell it so that all the dist programs can be smart.

       2)  Create a MANIFEST.new file in your top-level directory that lists all the files in your package.  The
           filename  should  be  the  first  field  on  each  line.  After some whitespace you can add a comment
           describing your file (briefly).

       After running makedist, you will have a set of kits in your top-level directory.  If your package name is
       "foo", they will be named foo.kit1, foo.kit2, etc.  The file created PACKLIST file is automatically added
       to the distribution and tells which files come with which kits.  If you used the -c option, you will end-
       up with a single directory instead, containing the whole distribution, ready to be sent to the end-user.

       If a file is too large to be packed as-is in one archive, it  will  be  automatically  split  in  smaller
       parts.  Only  the  first  11  characters  of the file will be kept though, and makedist will abort if two
       distinct files are to be split and have the same 11 first characters in their names. The split files will
       automatically be reconstructed at the end of the archive extraction by  running  a  script  generated  in
       PACKNOTES.

       You may then mail your kits via kitsend or post them with kitpost.

       Creates ./$package.kit* unless -c option is used.
       PACKLIST and PACKNOTES are also temporarily created.

       makedist - a distribution kit maker

       The following options are handled by makedist:

       -cdir    Tell  makedist  that  the  distribution should be copied (mirrored) in the specified directory,
                 instead of producing shell archives. Compatible with the -q option.

       -d        Turn on debug mode. Probably not useful.

       -ffile   Use file as manifest. By default, MANIFEST.new is used.

       -h        Print help message and exit.

       -q        Quick production of the kits: the checked-out version of the files is used,  instead  of  using
                 the  RCS  file to actually get the latest checked-in version.  This will save some considerable
                 time, but you have to be sure the checked-out version is up-to-date or you might end up with an
                 inconsistent package.

       -ssize   Set maximum kit size to size bytes.

       -v        Verbose mode: trace kit building process or tree mirroring.

       -V        Print version number and exit.

kitsend(1), kitpost(1), metaconfig(1), patcol(1)

                                                      LOCAL                                          MAKEDIST(1)

makedist [ -dhqvV ] [ -cdir ] [ -ssize ] [-fmanifest ]