Comment 13 for bug 171287

@Samuel - a few notes after an initial (quick) test:

1) compiler warning (GCC 4.2.1, Mac OS X 10.5.8 (i386)):
  CXX ui/dialog/align-and-distribute.o
ui/dialog/align-and-distribute.cpp: In member function ‘Inkscape::UI::MultiPathManipulator::TargetMode Inkscape::UI::Dialog::AlignAndDistribute::getNodeAlignTarget()’:
ui/dialog/align-and-distribute.cpp:1335: warning: control reaches end of non-void function

2) option 'Relative to' 'First|Last node'
Result is somewhat unpredictable (often times the last selected node [1] seems to be used even if the option had been set to 'First node').
Result possibly also differs depending on whether a start or end node is among the selection (or selected as 'First' node)
- What triggers an update of the list of selected nodes (and their selection order) if the dialog is kept open in the dock? [2]
- Does 'First|Last' actually refer to the sequence in which the nodes had been selected, or is it the first|last node of the selected nodes with regard to the path direction? [3]

I haven't yet tested aligning nodes in multi-path editing mode nor with nodes from different sub-paths.

[1] quick test was a zig-zag path (7 nodes, no curved segments, not closed)
    initial node selected with LMB click, additional nodes with 'Shift+LMB'
[2] e.g. if the selection of nodes changes, but not the option 'Relative to':
    deselect all, select new nodes, align with unchanged 'Relative to' option
[3] the preferences pane of the node tool has a setting to visualize the path direction for path outlines