%% "Robert P. J. Day" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: rpjd> target: ;
rpjd> if "target" is *not* the name of a file but just the name of an action rpjd> of some kind, then one might just as well use .PHONY. Yes. rpjd> and what would it mean if "target" *was* the name of a file? rpjd> with no pre-reqs and no command, what would this mean, if rpjd> anything? what processing could it possibly do? None. But as the manual says, it keeps make from trying to match it with an implicit rule. That implicit rule search takes some amount of processing, after all. rpjd> and for part two, related to my earlier posting, there is a makefile rpjd> "main.mk" that is expected to be included by just about every other rpjd> makefile in my project. as it was handed to me, this main.mk file rpjd> contains in it the following two lines: rpjd> makefile : ; rpjd> %.mk:: ; rpjd> i'm not sure what the value of these two rules are. As above. They keep the makefiles from being matched via implicit rule search. Remember make tries to rebuild all its makefiles first (see the section "How Makefiles are Remade" in the GNU make manual). The above rules tell make to not bother. You can see the difference by enabling debugging: try it first with those lines commented out, then uncomment them and run it again. Notice all the up-front processing make does on your makefiles before it ever starts on your normal targets. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul D. Smith <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Find some GNU make tips at: http://www.gnu.org http://make.paulandlesley.org "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist _______________________________________________ Help-make mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-make
