Re: Makefile targets again :-) (Was Re: compile)

Neil Conway (nconway.list@ukaea.org.uk)
Wed, 3 Feb 1999 12:06:41 +0000


grant@torque.net wrote:
>
> > I've moaned before about the almost total lack of documentation on the
> > Makefile targets, but maybe nobody else gives a damn. If that's the
> > case, you either parse the Makefile (and children) by hand, or you use
> > the targets you feel safe with... Shame really. People could save a
> > lot of time...
>
> If you feel strongly about this, do something more active than moaning.
> Write something. As you say it could save people time. I'm sure MEC
> would welcome some more help in rationalising and documenting the
> Makefile system.

Well I would, but I'm not confident if all the options (a) still work
and (b) are "safe/supported". The only people who can answer those
questions are the likes of Linus and/or the authors of the targets,
unless they are prepared to wade through all the code with a microscope
looking for potential problems. I like to use my time efficiently if
possible and that's not the kind of thing I can do efficiently.

For example, do you think an ordinary mortal can just inspect the code
and figure out when he does and doesn't need to do "make mrproper"?
(AFAICS, patching a makefile isn't caught by the dependencies, which
seems odd.)

I admit things have improved since my last inspection (make oldconfig is
now mentioned in the README - well done whoever :-).

cheers
Neil

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