purpose of EXTRA_DIST

[Till Straumann]

Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> On Wed, 2005-10-26 at 08:13 -0500, Joel Sherrill  wrote:
> 
>>Ralf Corsepius wrote:
>>
>>>On Tue, 2005-10-25 at 14:35 -0700, Till Straumann wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>What's the purpose of EXTRA_DIST, i.e.,
>>>>what files are supposed to be listed ?
>>>
>>>
>>>info automake
>>>

Thanks - 'info automake' says that you can add directories
to EXTRA_DIST. What is the reason e.g.,

libbsp/powerpc/Makefile.am

meticulously lists files from the 'shared' directory and
does not simply

EXTRA_DIST = shared

? And why (trying to learn and understand...) does
  libbsp/powerpc/motorola_powerpc/Makefile.am
list files from ../shared/ in EXTRA_DIST (e.g., start.S)
(that are, BTW. already added to EXTRA_DIST in
  libbsp/powerpc/Makefile.am)
?

Thanks
T.