I could not get help on the help-make list. Please let me know if I should explain the issue further ..
We are using GNU make 3.79.1.
There is a GNUmakefile in /user/u/src that has a rule like this:
install_scripts: ../install/scripts/scr.pl
../install/%: %
install -m 444 $(<) $(@)We have a file like so : /user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl
The master project is in /user/p/src. There is a copy of the same makefile in this directory and the script is installed in this tree also at /user/p/install/scripts/scr.pl.
The problem is when gmake is run in /user/u/src.
1. VPATH is set to /user/p/src.
2. If /user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl exists and if the file /user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl is older then, it is installed. As expected.
3. However, if /user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl does not exist and if the file /user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl is NOT older that /user/p/install/scripts/scr.pl, then it is not installed in /user/u/install.
gmake says (when run with -d) because of the VPATH setting , it is looking at /user/p/src/../install/scripts/scr.pl and since it is older there is no need to run the rule. However it runs the rule if /user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl exists.
Why does it behave differently depending on the existence of a file in the install tree and take VPATH into consider in one instance and not do so every time?
Thanks, Harsha
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