Andreas J Koenig <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > >make does not provide a way to ensure the existence of a directory. >Period. The ritual above achieves that the directory $(INST_AUTODIR) >exists. We wanted to avoid using 'mkdir -p', so we had to create one >directory at a time.
Is it worth adding a mkdir -p function to ExtUtils::Command? That got created for Win32 (which lacked lots of things), but now it is there we could use it on UNIX too. > >But you cannot make meaningful dependencies on directories because >they always change timestamps under your feet, so you need to touch >this absurd .exists file. But touching would also be stupid, because a >newer timestamp can trigger some other action if that .exists file >appears on the right side of a dependency (as you show above). > >An easy way out seemed to be to use perl.h as a reference timestamp >that is old enough to never triggers the MKPATH again. > > > I ask because some vendors don't ship the perl headers. Most recently I > > got a scare when it appeared that Apple was not going to ship perl.h with > > perl in 10.3 (its not, but it didn't in 10.2 either. Its in devtools). > > > So I'd like to break this hard-wired dependency so MakeMaker can install > > pure Perl modules without perl.h, but I don't want to just rip it out. > >It definitely makes sense to turn this INST_AUTODIR stuff off for pure >perl modules. > > > Andreas, do you know what this .exists stuff is all about? It looks like > > its checking to see if Perl got reinstalled. > >You're thinking the wrong direction.
