diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index dcd029487..c16f6d38e 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,10 @@
+2000-09-15  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
+
+	* doc/Makefile.in, edit/Makefile.in, gnome/Makefile.in,
+	gtkedit/Makefile.in, slang/Makefile.in, src/Makefile.in,
+	vfs/Make-mc.in: preserve timestamp on "make distdir", otherwise
+	mc.pot becomes out of date in the tarball.
+
 2000-09-14  Pavel Roskin  <proski@gnu.org>
 
 	* configure.in: Removed some abuses of CPPFLAGS. Removed useless
diff --git a/doc/Makefile.in b/doc/Makefile.in
index 037c5bc3a..727a52b18 100644
--- a/doc/Makefile.in
+++ b/doc/Makefile.in
@@ -83,6 +83,8 @@ distclean:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir:
-	for I in $(DISTDOC); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DISTDOC); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 depend dep:
diff --git a/edit/Makefile.in b/edit/Makefile.in
index 06511f971..029d4ec58 100644
--- a/edit/Makefile.in
+++ b/edit/Makefile.in
@@ -86,7 +86,9 @@ uninstall:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir:
-	for I in $(DIST); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DIST); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 depend dep: mcdep
 
diff --git a/gnome/Makefile.in b/gnome/Makefile.in
index ea2a2d880..c0690aa99 100644
--- a/gnome/Makefile.in
+++ b/gnome/Makefile.in
@@ -315,7 +315,9 @@ distclean: cleansourcelinks
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir:
-	for I in $(DISTGNOME); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DISTGNOME); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 install: install_@mx@
 
diff --git a/gtkedit/Makefile.in b/gtkedit/Makefile.in
index 8954c2a91..1febb7034 100644
--- a/gtkedit/Makefile.in
+++ b/gtkedit/Makefile.in
@@ -80,7 +80,9 @@ uninstall:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir:
-	for I in $(DIST); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DIST); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 depend dep: mcdep
 
diff --git a/slang/Makefile.in b/slang/Makefile.in
index cbd0eb0df..caef57c0b 100644
--- a/slang/Makefile.in
+++ b/slang/Makefile.in
@@ -70,7 +70,9 @@ distclean:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir: 
-	for I in $(DISTSLANG); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DISTSLANG); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 install uninstall:
 
diff --git a/src/Makefile.in b/src/Makefile.in
index 83d336b99..b63bf6415 100644
--- a/src/Makefile.in
+++ b/src/Makefile.in
@@ -126,7 +126,9 @@ uninstall:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir: $(srcdir)/mc.hlp
-	for I in $(DISTFILES); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir); done
+	for I in $(DISTFILES); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 
 depend dep: mcdep
 
diff --git a/vfs/Make-mc.in b/vfs/Make-mc.in
index 7ca8a4ec6..0a2aade3c 100644
--- a/vfs/Make-mc.in
+++ b/vfs/Make-mc.in
@@ -288,7 +288,9 @@ uninstall:
 distdir = $(top_builddir)/$(PACKAGE)-$(VERSION)/$(subdir)
 
 distdir:
-	for I in $(DISTVFS); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(DISTVFS); \
+	  do cp -p $(srcdir)/$$I $(distdir) || exit 1; \
+	done
 	mkdir $(distdir)/extfs
 	(cd extfs && $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) top_distdir=../$(top_distdir) \
 		distdir=../$(distdir)/extfs distdir) || exit 1
@@ -301,14 +303,14 @@ distdir:
 	mkdir $(distdir)/samba/tests
 	mkdir $(distdir)/samba/ubiqx
 
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_TOPLEVEL); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/$$I $(distdir)/samba || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_INCLUDE); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/include/$$I $(distdir)/samba/include || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_LIB); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/lib/$$I $(distdir)/samba/lib || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_LIBSMB); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/libsmb/$$I $(distdir)/samba/libsmb || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_PARAM); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/param/$$I $(distdir)/samba/param || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_SMBWRAPPER); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/smbwrapper/$$I $(distdir)/samba/smbwrapper || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_TESTS); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/tests/$$I $(distdir)/samba/tests || exit 1; done
-	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_UBIQX); do $(CP) $(srcdir)/samba/ubiqx/$$I $(distdir)/samba/ubiqx || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_TOPLEVEL); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/$$I $(distdir)/samba || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_INCLUDE); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/include/$$I $(distdir)/samba/include || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_LIB); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/lib/$$I $(distdir)/samba/lib || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_LIBSMB); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/libsmb/$$I $(distdir)/samba/libsmb || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_PARAM); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/param/$$I $(distdir)/samba/param || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_SMBWRAPPER); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/smbwrapper/$$I $(distdir)/samba/smbwrapper || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_TESTS); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/tests/$$I $(distdir)/samba/tests || exit 1; done
+	for I in $(SAMBA_DIST_UBIQX); do cp -p $(srcdir)/samba/ubiqx/$$I $(distdir)/samba/ubiqx || exit 1; done
 	
 depend dep: mcdep