http://nagoya.apache.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=2356
*** shadow/2356 Wed Jun 27 08:46:48 2001 --- shadow/2356.tmp.5254 Wed Jun 27 08:46:48 2001 *************** *** 0 **** --- 1,48 ---- + +============================================================================+ + | There are much better reasons that makefiles are evil | + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Bug #: 2356 Product: Ant | + | Status: NEW Version: unspecified | + | Resolution: Platform: All | + | Severity: Minor OS/Version: All | + | Priority: Other Component: Documentation | + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Assigned To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | + | Reported By: [EMAIL PROTECTED] | + | CC list: Cc: | + +----------------------------------------------------------------------------+ + | URL: http://jakarta.apache.org/ant/index.html | + +============================================================================+ + | DESCRIPTION | + The infamous tab bug mentioned in the introduction has been fixed for years in + modern makes, and in any case, it's inessential. + + Make's inherent evils include + It's almost impossible to tell what rule is going to apply + It encourages adding obscure pseudo-dependencies that exist for technical reasons + only + Macro expansion rules are hairy as hell and vary from flavor to flavor. In + particular, it's almost impossible to tell what's going to be expanded when + Underlying much of this is a poor distinction between declarative and imperative + programming. Specifying dependencies is meant to be delarative, but the actions + to be taken are inherently imperative. + There are the usual problems with evolving yet another ad-hoc turing complete + language over years -- see also the shells, awk, visual basic . . . + Actions are inherently platform dependent, while dependencies are less so, + leading to mammoth sets of rules in cross-platform environments. The problem + here is that people tend to try to solve all cross-platform problems with make, + instead of abstracting build mechanisms and leaving dependencies to make. Which + brings us to the most fundamental flaw . . . + Make doesn't even handle it's core task of tracking dependencies that well. Or + at all. You have to tell it explicitly that module A depends on module B, then + keep that information in sync with the code. Some modern makes fix this, at + least on an ad hoc basis, but the sad, evil fact is that for years and years + make did nothing of the sort. The best you could do was run some other tool to + generate a makefile, and hope make knew enough to take the changed makefile into + account (which it usually didn't). This in turn led programmers to believe that + tracking dependencies was a hard problem, and perversely that since it was a + hard problem, you needed a "powerful tool" like make to help you. + + If you condense any of the above, or your own opinions about make, into a couple + of polite but scathing paragraphs, I think the introduction will be the better + for it. \ No newline at end of file
