Re: Non-recursive make & maintenance issue

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On 9 Dec 2003, Tom Tromey wrote:

> >>>>> "Bob" == Bob Friesenhahn <address@hidden> writes:
>
> Bob> In other words, dealing with junk like
> Bob> apps_build_postgres_src_build_postgres_SOURCES
> Bob> is very tiring and failure prone.  Is there a reason why it can't
> Bob> simply be
> Bob> apps/build-postgres/src/build-postgres_SOURCES ?
>
> Yeah, that does seem easier.
>
> One problem is that you might refer to these variables elsewhere in
> your Makefile, and it isn't clear that automake can reliably rewrite
> all uses.

If the user is able to define a formal synonym for the path, then this
synonym can be used everywhere but in the synonym definition itself.
That should ensure that automake has no difficulties and it allows the
user to write a more compact Makefile.am.  All automake needs is a
unique way to identify the target.

> The initial reason for canonicalizing macro names was simply that
> automake was pretty dumb, and passed through its input directly to its
> output.  Rewriting wasn't really possible.

Exactly.  Automake is much more powerful these days.

Bob
======================================
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden
http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen