[c-nsp] EIGRP-external routes and EIGRP "distance" command

[Johannes Resch]

After some lab testing (using IOS 12.4/12.4T on C2811 and C3745) I'm led 
to believe that the command

distance <distance> <ip-address> <wildcard-mask> [ip-standard-acl | 
ip-extended-acl | access-list-name]

applied in "router eigrp" works only for EIGRP-internal routes.
EIGRP-external routes always get the default EIGRP admin distance for 
external routes, no matter if they match an ACL or neighbor IP in the 
distance command.

However, I can't seem to find this behavior to be documented anywhere
(at least not in IOS 12.4 Config Guide or Command Reference Guide).

Can anyone shed light on this - is this by design, and if so, is there a 
way to selectively apply AD values to external EIGRP routes?

I am aware of of the "distance eigrp" command, but this is not an 
option, since I need to alter admin distance for specific external 
routes only.

[Oh, and before you start flaming me for bad network design - I'd never 
use any of the above in actual production networks. This is just out of 
sheer curiosity and CCIE lab madness :) ]

Thanks,
-jr