* admin/authors.el (authors): First update the ChangeLog.

* admin/make-tarball.txt: Related updates.

admin/authors.el

@@ -1361,24 +1361,36 @@ and changed by AUTHOR."
 	    (cons (list author wrote-list cowrote-list changed-list)
 		  authors-author-list)))))
 
-(defun authors (root)
+(defun authors (root &optional nologupdate)
   "Extract author information from change logs and Lisp source files.
-ROOT is the root directory under which to find the files.  If called
-interactively, ROOT is read from the minibuffer.
-Result is a buffer *Authors* containing authorship information, and a
-buffer *Authors Errors* containing references to unknown files."
-  (interactive "DEmacs source directory: ")
+ROOT is the root directory under which to find the files.
+Interactively, read ROOT from the minibuffer.
+Accurate author information requires up-to-date change logs, so this
+first updates them, unless optional prefix argument NOLOGUPDATE is non-nil.
+The result is a buffer *Authors* containing authorship information,
+and a buffer *Authors Errors* containing references to unknown files."
+  (interactive "DEmacs source directory: \nP")
   (setq root (expand-file-name root))
+  (unless (file-exists-p (expand-file-name "src/emacs.c" root))
+    (unless (y-or-n-p
+             (format "Not the root directory of Emacs: %s, continue? " root))
+      (user-error "Not the root directory")))
+  ;; May contain your personal entries.
+  (or (not (file-exists-p (expand-file-name "ChangeLog" root)))
+      (y-or-n-p "Unversioned ChangeLog present, continue?")
+      (user-error "Unversioned ChangeLog may have irrelevant entries"))
+  (or nologupdate
+      ;; There are likely to be things that need fixing, so we update
+      ;; the versioned ChangeLog.N rather than the unversioned ChangeLog.
+      (zerop (call-process "make" nil nil nil
+                           "-C" root "change-history-nocommit"))
+      (error "Problem updating ChangeLog"))
   (let ((logs (process-lines find-program root "-name" "ChangeLog*"))
 	(table (make-hash-table :test 'equal))
 	(buffer-name "*Authors*")
 	authors-checked-files-alist
 	authors-invalid-file-names)
     (authors-add-fixed-entries table)
-    (unless (file-exists-p (expand-file-name "src/emacs.c" root))
-      (unless (y-or-n-p
-	       (format "Not the root directory of Emacs: %s, continue? " root))
-	(error "Not the root directory")))
     (dolist (log logs)
       (when (string-match "ChangeLog\\(.[0-9]+\\)?$" log)
 	(message "Scanning %s..." log)

admin/make-tarball.txt

@@ -37,14 +37,15 @@ General steps (for each step, check for possible errors):
       M-: (require 'authors) RET
       M-x authors RET
 
+    (This first updates the current versioned ChangeLog.N)
+
     If there is an "*Authors Errors*" buffer, address the issues.
-    If there was a ChangeLog typo, run "make change-history" and then
-    fix the newest ChangeLog history file.  If a file was deleted or
-    renamed, consider adding an appropriate entry to
-    authors-ignored-files, authors-valid-file-names, or
+    If there was a ChangeLog typo, fix the relevant entry.
+    If a file was deleted or renamed, consider adding an appropriate
+    entry to authors-ignored-files, authors-valid-file-names, or
     authors-renamed-files-alist.
 
-    If necessary, repeat M-x authors after making those changes.
+    If necessary, repeat 'C-u M-x authors' after making those changes.
     Save the "*Authors*" buffer as etc/AUTHORS.
     Check the diff looks reasonable.  Maybe add entries to
     authors-ambiguous-files or authors-aliases, and repeat.
@@ -85,8 +86,8 @@ General steps (for each step, check for possible errors):
 
 5.  Copy lisp/loaddefs.el to lisp/ldefs-boot.el.
 
-    Commit etc/AUTHORS, lisp/ldefs-boot.el, and the files changed
-    by M-x set-version.
+    Commit ChangeLog.N, etc/AUTHORS, lisp/ldefs-boot.el, and the
+    files changed by M-x set-version.
 
     If someone else made a commit between step 1 and now,
     you need to repeat from step 4 onwards.  (You can commit the files