meaning of "Automatic date update in version.in" commits

[Pedro Alves]

On 09/21/2017 01:22 PM, Petr Ovtchenkov wrote:
> On Thu, 21 Sep 2017 12:36:46 +0100
> Pedro Alves <palves@redhat.com> wrote:

>> I.e., this whole thread feels like the classical XY problem.
>>
>> What is the actual problem that you're trying to solve?
> 
> Problem remains original.
> 
> "Automatic date update in version.in" commits are 
>    - litter commits tree
>    - create problems for deterministic, bit-identical and/or verifiable builds.

[snip distractions from the original problem]

> Am I quite clear?

No.

The "litter" problem is real, but minor.

The determinism claim would have merit, if it were a real problem.
But it's not.  Every checkout of a given git hash gets the exact
same sources with the same date stamp.  It's totally deterministic.

So again, what problem are you trying to solve?

Thanks,
Pedro Alves