match-anything rule takes precedence over earlier rule

[gk]

I do not understand why the following makefile will not build the second 
target.
I thought the explicit rule should take precedence over a match-anything 
rule, especially since it appears earier in the makefile. Thanks for any clues.


# makefile
# .PHONY directive makes no difference regarding this problem
.PHONY: error project

error :
        @echo 'rule: $@'
        @echo type "'make project'"
        @exit 1

# this target cannot be made:
project :
        @echo 'rule: $@'

# if this final rule is removed, it works fine
% : error
        @echo this will never print
#eof

address@hidden junk]$ make project
rule: error
type 'make project'
make: *** [error] Error 1



- Greg Keraunen