def get_file_list(self):
        """Figure out the list of files to include in the source
        distribution, and put it in 'self.filelist'.  This might involve
        reading the manifest template (and writing the manifest), or just
        reading the manifest, or just using the default file set -- it all
        depends on the user's options.
        """
        # new behavior when using a template:
        # the file list is recalculated everytime because
        # even if MANIFEST.in or setup.py are not changed
        # the user might have added some files in the tree that
        # need to be included.
        #
        #  This makes --force the default and only behavior with templates
        template_exists = os.path.isfile(self.template)
        manifest_exists = os.path.isfile(self.manifest)
        if not template_exists and manifest_exists:
                self.read_manifest()
                return

        if not template_exists:
            self.warn(("manifest template '%s' does not exist " +
                       "(using default file list)") %
                      self.template)

        self.filelist.findall()

        if self.use_defaults:
            self.add_defaults()

        if template_exists:
            self.read_template()

        if self.prune:
            self.prune_file_list()

        self.filelist.sort()
        self.filelist.remove_duplicates()
        self.write_manifest()

    def read_manifest(self):
        """Read the manifest file (named by 'self.manifest') and use it to
        fill in 'self.filelist', the list of files to include in the source
        distribution.
        """
        log.info("reading manifest file '%s'", self.manifest)

        # regular expression to match from # comment char to end of line
        comment_regexp = re.compile('#.*')

        manifest = open(self.manifest)
        for line in manifest.readlines():
            # kill comments, will leave some whitespace
            line = comment_regexp.sub('', line)
            # trim leading/trailing whitespace, but preserve embedded whitespace
            line = line.strip()
            # skip lines without any non-whitespace character remaining
            if len(line) == 0: continue
            self.filelist.append(line)
        manifest.close()