[bug #66583] [PATCH] allow building groff without makeinfo

[anonymous]

Follow-up Comment #50, bug #66583 (group groff):

[comment #44 comment #44:]
> On Tue, Dec 31, 2024 at 07:24:03AM -0500, G. Branden Robinson wrote:
>>> Also, the list of targets should be unconditional, and configure
>>> shouldn't mess with them.  Targets are make(1)'s business.  But
>>> usually, ./configure does change them significanty.
>>> 
>>> It's [this] other part what I dislike.
>> 
>> I trust you realize that you and onf are arguing diametrically opposed
>> objectives here.  He _absolutely_ wants to drive target selection from
>> the "./configure" script.  Or did.  The plethora of new make(1) target
>> names he's proposed, he might regard as a complete replacement for that
>> approach.
> 
> I do.

I would like to correct this.

I don't want to drive target selection from ./configure, let alone
"absolutely".
The reason why my past patches have implemented it this way is that the
automake
way of doing things is defining weird make macros that get converted into
targets
and added as dependencies to all, and it took me a bit too long to realize
it's
possible even with this strange approach to do it the traditional make way.
(To be honest, it wasn't until Alex's comments that I looked more into it and
realized it's possible. Feel free to consider me slow.)

"The plethora of new make(1) target names [I've] proposed" I regard as the
idiomatic make way to allow building only the binaries, or only the docs.
If anyone disagrees, I would like to hear your objections; so far I have not
heard any opinions regarding this proposed approach.

As for Alex's suspicion of a recursive build and Branden's objections,
just look into the generated Makefile [re-arranged for clarity]:

RECURSIVE_TARGETS = all-recursive check-recursive cscopelist-recursive \
        ctags-recursive dvi-recursive html-recursive info-recursive \
        install-data-recursive install-dvi-recursive \
        install-exec-recursive install-html-recursive \
        install-info-recursive install-pdf-recursive \
        install-ps-recursive install-recursive installcheck-recursive \
        installdirs-recursive pdf-recursive ps-recursive \
        tags-recursive uninstall-recursive

am__recursive_targets = \
  $(RECURSIVE_TARGETS) \
  $(RECURSIVE_CLEAN_TARGETS) \
  $(am__extra_recursive_targets)

# This directory's subdirectories are mostly independent; you can cd
# into them and run 'make' without going through this Makefile.
# To change the values of 'make' variables: instead of editing Makefiles,
# (1) if the variable is set in 'config.status', edit 'config.status'
#     (which will cause the Makefiles to be regenerated when you run 'make');
# (2) otherwise, pass the desired values on the 'make' command line.
$(am__recursive_targets):
        @fail=; \
        if $(am__make_keepgoing); then \
          failcom='fail=yes'; \
        else \
          failcom='exit 1'; \
        fi; \
        dot_seen=no; \
        target=`echo $@ | sed s/-recursive//`; \
        case "$@" in \
          distclean-* | maintainer-clean-*) list='$(DIST_SUBDIRS)' ;; \
          *) list='$(SUBDIRS)' ;; \
        esac; \
        for subdir in $$list; do \
          echo "Making $$target in $$subdir"; \
          if test "$$subdir" = "."; then \
            dot_seen=yes; \
            local_target="$$target-am"; \
          else \
            local_target="$$target"; \
          fi; \
          ($(am__cd) $$subdir && $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) $$local_target) \
          || eval $$failcom; \
        done; \
        if test "$$dot_seen" = "no"; then \
          $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) "$$target-am" || exit 1; \
        fi; test -z "$$fail"

BUILT_SOURCES = $(ALLOCA_H) $(ASSERT_H) $(ERRNO_H) $(FLOAT_H) \
        $(GETOPT_H) $(GETOPT_CDEFS_H) lib/inttypes.h $(LIMITS_H) \
        lib/math.h lib/pthread.h lib/sched.h $(STDBOOL_H) \
        $(STDCKDINT_H) $(STDDEF_H) $(STDINT_H) lib/stdio.h \
        lib/stdlib.h lib/string.h lib/sys/stat.h lib/sys/types.h \
        lib/sys/wait.h lib/time.h lib/unistd.h \
        $(LIBUNISTRING_UNITYPES_H) $(LIBUNISTRING_UNIWIDTH_H) \
        lib/wchar.h lib/wctype.h man defs.h $(top_srcdir)/.version

all: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
        $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) all-recursive

all: $(GROFF_INFO) $(GROFF_TXT) $(GROFF_HTML) $(GROFF_DVI) $(GROFF_PDF)
all: font/devpdf/stamp
all: charset.alias ref-add.sed ref-del.sed
all: tmac/stamp-wrap
all: generate_man_files

check: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
        $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) check-recursive

install: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
        $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) install-recursive

install-exec: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
        $(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) install-exec-recursive

tags: tags-recursive
ctags: ctags-recursive
cscopelist: cscopelist-recursive
installdirs: installdirs-recursive
install-data: install-data-recursive
uninstall: uninstall-recursive
installcheck: installcheck-recursive
distclean: distclean-recursive
clean: clean-recursive
dvi: dvi-recursive
html: html-recursive
info: info-recursive
pdf: pdf-recursive
ps: ps-recursive


To sum it up: `make all` does what would be considered a recursive build:
it runs `$(MAKE) $(AM_MAKEFLAGS) all-recursive`. As far as I can tell, the
AM_MAKEFLAGS macro is not defined anywhere, so this make does not inherit
flags the user called make with. This means that what Alex is experiencing
is this: he runs `make -k [all]`, which runs `make all-recursive` (defined
under `$(am__recursive_targets):`). The command `make all-recursive` fails
due to the Texinfo manual not building, and does not try building other
targets because it wasn't run with the flag -k. Because the dependencies of
all do not include anything outside BUILT_SOURCES (which seems to contain
stuff relevant to gnulib), the Texinfo manual, and some helper targets,
there is nothing more the `make -k` can do and so exits.

`grep -iw recursive $(find -name '*.a[cm]' -or -name '*.m4')` does not find
anything substantial, so this is introduced by autotools. Web search does
not reveal any official documentation on this matter, only a page at
autotools.info (unofficial resource) entitled "Non-recursive Automake",
but this only advises the use of a single Makefile.am that includes all
the other *.am files without a single word about the auto-generated
*-recursive make targets.

Conclusion: automake introduces recursive make into the build process.
I haven't found any documentation on how to disable this. If anyone has
the patience to hear more about autotools, I suggest taking this up to
the autotools mailing list. I for sure don't.


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