Re: [FEATURE Request] Please add an option to list all dependencies ofa target (recursively)

[Noel Yap]

address@hidden wrote:
> > Sorry for not checking the URL.  If you're still interested in the
> > paper, googling for "recursive make harmful" turns up many links.
> 
>         OK. But I think we are being bitten by semantics -- the paper
>  refers to inefficiencies in complex build environments that are only
>  peripherally relevant in this feature request. The solution proposed
>  in the paper, a single, humongous Makefiule (even if it is practical,
>  which I personally think is only practical for small projects), would
>  still have the same problems determining the dependencies involved.

As you mentioned previously, this paper does not address your request.

IME, the Makefile can be broken up into separate files thereby supporting 
larger systems.

>         Perhaps because calling make is more resource heavy? Or
>  perhaps the example provided was a simplified dummy example, and the
>  real requirements are more complex.  Suppose the project is to
>  discover and document the impact of system/file changes on
>  products/programs?

I still don't understand.  make checks timestamps of dependencies and does 
nothing if dependencies are up to date.  What do you propose to do?  How will 
your proposal be less resource intensive?  If it is less resource intensive, 
why not make it part of
make?

>         The person requesting the feature has; but make -n only tells
>  you the actions that shall be taken currently to update the target,
>  not what all the dependencies are, I would not know, for example,
>  that touching /usr/include/sys/time.h would cause the target to be
>  rebuilt or not.
>
>         make -np helps a little bit more, but at the expense of a lot
>  of verbiage that one has to wade through.
> 
>         If it s a complex project being managed by Make, spread over
>  several directories, with unknown dependencies in the Makefiles
>  there, there is no easy way to determine a priori what the
>  dependencies are, down the path.

I think such a feature would be nice for documentation purposes but I still 
don't understand your purposes.  OTOH, I could just parse the output of "make 
-npr".

Anyway, since this is open source, your always welcome to contribute a patch.  
Otherwise, there's a very small possibility that someone else will create the 
patch for you.

HTH,
Noel