NAME

       makedist - a distribution kit maker

SYNOPSIS

       makedist [ -dhqvV ] [ -c dir ] [ -s size ] [-f manifest ]

DESCRIPTION

       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.

OPTIONS

       The following options are handled by makedist:

       -c dir    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.

       -f file   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.

       -s size   Set maximum kit size to size bytes.

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

       -V        Print version number and exit.

AUTHORS

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

FILES

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

SEE ALSO

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

                                              LOCAL                                   MAKEDIST(1)