gnu make, nmake and reference builds

[Krzysztof Cieniuch]

Hi,

Some time ago I was using nmake(att not ms) and really liked  the way it handled
reference builds. In general you could specify directories in your VPATH to 
search
for sources AND object files. This enabled users to checkout locally just few 
files that were to be modified
and build product using nightly build directories  to fill missing object and 
target files and nightly build
checkout area to search for missing source files.
the problem is clearly stated in this post:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-make/2005-08/msg00132.html


Just wonder if this is possible with gnu make, I've read Managing Projects with 
GNU Make
chapter 10.5 Partial Source Trees and 10.6 Reference Builds,Libraries and 
Installers
so it looks like that functionality can be achieved in  gnu make. 

But on the other hand I read posts on this lists 
VPATH question - Gnu make vs. Lucent nmake
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-make/2005-08/msg00140.html

that suggest that this functionality can't be easily achieved with gnu make.

So really stumbled on this is it possible or not ? I don't mind writing some 
wrapper build script to invoke make
if that would help to overcome those problems.

I would really like to use gnu make because it has huge user base.
not many people know about att version of nmake  it's actively maintained and 
it's free but it has about 150 users (sic!) so it seems risky to implement 
build system using it.
(NB there is also Lucent version (after att split) with some enhancements and 
additional support for java.)

Thanks
Chris

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