I've run into a problem with building module documentation outside the pike tree:

when a documentation build directory is within the documentation source directory, you end up with a recursion loop. this is because extract_autodoc creates a parallel tree inside of the documentation build directory, and once the extractor descends into the documentation build directory, it never reaches the end of the directories to recurse.

The problem came up because autodoc markup is not extracted from C/CMOD source files using the new extract targets. I wanted to add this, but ran into the problem above. As far as I can see, there are 3 avenues:

1. build documentation outside of the documentation source directory (ie the module build directory)

i don't think that this is a very good option, as it only masks the problem.

2. add a check in extract_autodoc.pike to check for the problem and stop recursing into the documentation build directory

this stops the problem above, but seems to create a problem with duplicate documentation for the module in question (it ends with an error to this effect).

3. add a separate target that will extract documentation for files specified in the makefile, as say AUTODOC_C_INPUT or something, then extract the pike autodoc as normal.

this would require extract_autodoc to be modified to be able to extract from a source file, rather than a directory.

Anyone have any constructive thoughts about the problem in general and a solution to it?

Bill