Problems with automake not detecting dependencies

From: Tobias Wolff (wolff_at_falkag.com)
Date: 02/23/04 

Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 23:28:54 +0100

Hi,

I have the following directory structure:

libs/
libs/libA/
libs/libA/example

Inside of the directory "src/libA" a library is built which should be
used in the program built in the directory "src/libA/example", therefore
the library has to be built first. I have created the following files:

libs/Makefile.am:

SUBDIRS = libA

libs/libA/Makefile.am

SUBDIRS = example
noinst_LIBRARIES = libA.a
libA_a_SOURCES = a.cpp b.cpp

libs/libA/example/Makefile.am

noinst_PROGRAMS = libAtest
libAtest_SOURCES = libAtest.cpp
libAtest_LDADD = $(top_builddir)/libs/libA/libA.a

The manpage say, that this line should be sufficient and that automake
is automaticaaly adding a dependency, like

libAtest_DEPENDENCIES = $(top_builddir)/libs/libA/libA.a

I added this to be sure because I assumed that I assumed from the "info"
and "man" pages, that this would tell the system to first build the
library. But it fails. I still changes to directory "libs/libA/example"
first and comes up with the following error:

* No rule to make target: ../../../libs/libA/libA.a

Anyone got a hint?

Best regards,
Tobias.