Re: got wet with make --dry-run

From: Thomas Rast <trast@student.ethz.ch>
Date: Jan 1, 2009, 19:44 UTC
Message-ID: <200901012045.02734.trast@student.ethz.ch>
In-Reply-To: <87eizn0xhd.fsf@jidanni.org>

jidanni@jidanni.org wrote:

Show 5 quoted lines

> Gentlemen, make --dry-run is booby trapped to still execute commands:
> $ (cd Documentation; make --dry-run); find -mtime -1 -type f
> ./Documentation/doc.dep
> ./GIT-VERSION-FILE
> Forgot $(MAKEFLAGS)? (info "(make)Options/Recursion").

A two minute check into Makefile shows that the recursion is implemented via $(MAKE), which is the recommended way to do it. It's impossible to "forget" $(MAKEFLAGS), since the docs clearly say that it is always exported unless explicitly unexported.

The *real* reason why it rebuilds GIT-VERSION-FILE is that the Makefile says '-include GIT-VERSION-FILE', and uses the version info to decide some parts of the build process. (It'll also do a similar thing with the $CFLAGS detection code.) Since this influences the actual commands executed, it seems sensible to run them even under 'make -n'.

> By the way, why would an offline make need
> /bin/sh: curl-config: command not found

From somewhere near the top of Makefile, which is definitely a recommended read:

# Define NO_CURL if you do not have libcurl installed. git-http-pull and # git-http-push are not built, and you cannot use http:// and https:// # transports.

Next time please take the time to investigate at least a little bit into your "issues" before starting to cry foul.

-- 
Thomas Rast
trast@{inf,student}.ethz.ch