Re: [PATCH] Makefile fix

[Doug Evans <dje@google.com>]

On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 2:33 AM, Mark Kettenis <mark.kettenis@xs4all.nl> wrote:
> The diff below fixes an issue that has been bothering me for quite a
> while.  When using OpenBSD make, almost everything in gdb/ gets
> rebuilt.  The problem is the use of the all-lib phony target, which is
> always considered to be out-of-date, and used as a prerequisite of
> libgnu.a and the gnulib string.h, which are therefore also considered
> to be out-of-date.  I have no idea why this problem doesn't show up
> with GNU make.  But the GNU make manual clearly states that phony
> targets should not be prerequisites of real target files:
>
>   <http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html#Phony-Targets>
>
> It seems to me that the phony target can be easily avoided; see the
> diff below.  But perhaps I'm missing something?
>
>
>
> diff --git a/gdb/Makefile.in b/gdb/Makefile.in
> index ed84e35..937478b 100644
> --- a/gdb/Makefile.in
> +++ b/gdb/Makefile.in
> @@ -1263,10 +1263,8 @@ gdb$(EXEEXT): gdb.o $(LIBGDB_OBS) $(ADD_DEPS) $(CDEPS) $(TDEPLIBS)
>                 $(TDEPLIBS) $(TUI_LIBRARY) $(CLIBS) $(LOADLIBES)
>
>  # Convenience rule to handle recursion.
> -$(LIBGNU) $(GNULIB_H): all-lib
> -all-lib: $(GNULIB_BUILDDIR)/Makefile
> +$(LIBGNU) $(GNULIB_H): $(GNULIB_BUILDDIR)/Makefile
>         @$(MAKE) $(FLAGS_TO_PASS) DO=all DODIRS=$(GNULIB_BUILDDIR) subdir_do
> -.PHONY: all-lib
>
>  # Convenience rule to handle recursion.
>  .PHONY: all-data-directory

I found the patch where this went in but I couldn't find anything interesting.
"all-lib" is there, I'm guessing, just as a convenience for typing,
but I'm not sure how often it's used so if it's getting in the way I'm
ok with this change.
I can't think of any problems with the patch.
[And we could still keep all-lib as a convenience rule, but I'm ok
with deleting it for now.]