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authorPaul Smith <psmith@gnu.org>1999-07-06 21:09:32 +0000
committerPaul Smith <psmith@gnu.org>1999-07-06 21:09:32 +0000
commit012254e81e045cc7af01f3ef0d7b63d9d9b9a0d5 (patch)
tree5d6be3ede34c4a1b49eb042fc1c822eead695566 /make.texinfo
parent2858f7a8f11990a8b9391e70ab4cdaa271522ece (diff)
downloadgunmake-012254e81e045cc7af01f3ef0d7b63d9d9b9a0d5.tar.gz
* Various bugfixes/updates. See ChangeLog.
Diffstat (limited to 'make.texinfo')
-rw-r--r--make.texinfo32
1 files changed, 21 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/make.texinfo b/make.texinfo
index e6b6165..7fe5917 100644
--- a/make.texinfo
+++ b/make.texinfo
@@ -1193,6 +1193,13 @@ again. (It will also attempt to update each of them over again, but
normally this will not change them again, since they are already up to
date.)@refill
+If you know that one or more of your makefiles cannot be remade and you
+want to keep @code{make} from performing an implicit rule search on
+them, perhaps for efficiency reasons, you can use any normal method of
+preventing implicit rule lookup to do so. For example, you can write an
+explicit rule with the makefile as the target, and an empty command
+string (@pxref{Empty Commands, ,Using Empty Commands}).
+
If the makefiles specify a double-colon rule to remake a file with
commands but no dependencies, that file will always be remade
(@pxref{Double-Colon}). In the case of makefiles, a makefile that has a
@@ -1201,8 +1208,8 @@ time @code{make} is run, and then again after @code{make} starts over
and reads the makefiles in again. This would cause an infinite loop:
@code{make} would constantly remake the makefile, and never do anything
else. So, to avoid this, @code{make} will @strong{not} attempt to
-remake makefiles which are specified as double-colon targets but have no
-dependencies.@refill
+remake makefiles which are specified as targets of a double-colon rule
+with commands but no dependencies.@refill
If you do not specify any makefiles to be read with @samp{-f} or
@samp{--file} options, @code{make} will try the default makefile names;
@@ -6632,10 +6639,11 @@ Some Files}.@refill
@itemx --print-data-base
@cindex @code{--print-data-base}
Print the data base (rules and variable values) that results from
-reading the makefiles; then execute as usual or as otherwise
-specified. This also prints the version information given by
-the @samp{-v} switch (see below). To print the data base without
-trying to remake any files, use @w{@samp{make -p -f /dev/null}}.
+reading the makefiles; then execute as usual or as otherwise specified.
+This also prints the version information given by the @samp{-v} switch
+(see below). To print the data base without trying to remake any files,
+use @w{@samp{make -qp}}. To print the data base of predefined rules and
+variables, use @w{@samp{make -p -f /dev/null}}.
@item -q
@cindex @code{-q}
@@ -8722,8 +8730,8 @@ for the particular target that is being processed.
This is not defined in GNU @code{make} because @samp{$$} should always
stand for an ordinary @samp{$}.
-It is possible to get this functionality through the use of static pattern
-rules (@pxref{Static Pattern, ,Static Pattern Rules}).
+It is possible to get portions of this functionality through the use of
+static pattern rules (@pxref{Static Pattern, ,Static Pattern Rules}).
The System V @code{make} rule:
@example
@@ -9131,9 +9139,11 @@ but the rule in the makefile was prefixed with the @code{-} special
character, so @code{make} ignored the error.
@item missing separator. Stop.
-This is @code{make}'s generic ``Huh?'' error message. It means that
-@code{make} was completely unsuccessful at parsing this line of your
-makefile. It basically means ``syntax error''.
+This means that @code{make} could not understand much of anything about
+the command line it just read. GNU @code{make} looks for various kinds
+of separators (@code{:}, @code{=}, TAB characters, etc.) to help it
+decide what kind of commandline it's seeing. This means it couldn't
+find a valid one.
One of the most common reasons for this message is that you (or perhaps
your oh-so-helpful editor, as is the case with many MS-Windows editors)