def make_skeleton(path, relations, item_rows, gzip=False):
    """
    Instantiate a new profile skeleton (only the relations file and
    item file) from an existing relations file and a list of rows
    for the item table. For standard relations files, it is suggested
    to have, as a minimum, the `i-id` and `i-input` fields in the
    item rows.

    Args:
        path: the destination directory of the skeleton---must not
              already exist, as it will be created
        relations: the path to the relations file
        item_rows: the rows to use for the item file
        gzip: if `True`, the item file will be compressed
    Returns:
        An ItsdbProfile containing the skeleton data (but the profile
        data will already have been written to disk).
    Raises:
        :class:`delphin.exceptions.ItsdbError`: if the destination
            directory could not be created.

    .. deprecated:: v0.7.0
    """
    try:
        os.makedirs(path)
    except OSError:
        raise ItsdbError('Path already exists: {}.'.format(path))

    import shutil
    shutil.copyfile(relations, os.path.join(path, _relations_filename))
    prof = ItsdbProfile(path, index=False)
    prof.write_table('item', item_rows, gzip=gzip)
    return prof