RE: Dependencies on directories on NTFS volumes

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Casper Hornstrup" <address@hidden> writes:

  >> It seems like standard filesystem behavior to me.  Based on my
  >> reading of the MS doc you linked, UNIX filesystems work the same
  >> way.

  ch> That seems to be correct. I've just had someone check and the same
  ch> problem is on linux. FAT don't behave this way though. Since unix
  ch> don't have the creation time, it cannot be changed for unix, so
  ch> disregard this patch.

Sure, UNIX has creation time.  Every element on a standard UNIX
filesystem has three times: creation, modification, and access.

  >> I don't think the current behavior is incorrect, and I don't think it
  >> needs to be fixed.  After all, you could get identical behavior with
  >> files, rather than directories, if you set your makefile up that
  >> way... so don't do that :-).

  ch> No, since I can't put files and directories in recently generated
  ch> files.  I can put them in recently created directories though.

What I mean is, you can have a rule that updates the mod time on files
in the same way as directories.

In general it's not a good idea to have directories be prerequisites of
"normal" (non-.PHONY) targets.  Only in special circumstances is it
warranted.

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