Re: [PATCH v4] Makefile: add a non-.PHONY "sparse-incr" target

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Sep 28, 2021, 17:44 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqqy27gk321.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <patch-v4-1.1-f31fa3e8282-20210928T014023Z-avarab@gmail.com>

Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason  <avarab@gmail.com> writes:

> I.e. per [2] want "make <file>.sp" to *always* run "sparse", even
> though a corresponding "make <file>.o" would only re-run the "real"
> compilation if needed.

It is different from my reading. If <file>.c and what it includes haven't changed, it would be fine not to run "sparse". The point of running "make <file>.sp" is to see it fail if there is something problematic. If there is any room for the word "*always*" to come into the observation, it would be more like "if we cannot make it follow the usual dependency rules like the real compilation, we can live with it always running, as it is fast enough". If we can make it honor the dependencies, that would give the best of both worlds, and we do not have to add an extra target.