Re: subdir-objects fails with non-literal _SOURCES

[Jim Meyering]

Ralf Wildenhues <address@hidden> wrote:
...
> The strongest argument against invoking `make' at the end of configure
> is one of debugging: if your makefile contains a syntax error -- and for
> newbies it frequently will -- then configure won't finish successfully.

Hi Ralf,

If you're tempted, maybe a two-pronged approach.  First use the naive
sed-based approach, but if there are any '$' in the result, try using
"make".  If make-based process fails for any reason, simply continue
with the results (guaranteed to fail upon build attempt) of the
sed-based approach.

Then, it should work no worse than the existing code, and
you can hide any make diagnostics so as not to confuse newbies.
The only cost is the added complexity.

I can see how you'd prefer to document the current limitation,
but I hate to force people to un-factor their Makefiles.
On the other hand, I get the impression that this is a pretty
obscure corner, probably because few people use subdir-objects,
and even fewer also use make variables in _SOURCE values.