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Date: Wed, 09 Oct 1996 10:11:16 -0500
From: Steve Price <sprice@hiwaay.net>
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To: Wolfram Schneider <wosch@freebsd.org>
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Subject: Re: .depend
References: <199610082021.WAA06329@campa.panke.de>
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Wolfram Schneider wrote:
> 
> Richard Wackerbarth writes:
> >>I think we should add an enviroment variable (e.g. DEPENDFILE) to
> >>make(1) for `.depend'. mkdep -f foo support different depend files.
> >
> >Why change "make"?
> 
> Because .depend is wired in make(1). There is no way
> to stop make(1) to read .depend if exists. There is no way
> to use an other depend file, e.g. `.depend.i486' or
> `.depend.hostname'.
> 
> Example
> $ mkdep                          <cpp options> <files>
> $ mkdep -f .depend.debug -DDEBUG <cpp options> <files>
> $ mkdep -f .depend.i386 -Di386   <cpp options> <files>
> 
> You can now include .depend.debug in ./Makefile, but make(1) also
> read .depend because it exists.
> 
> Wolfram

Then the best thing would be to take the hard-coded value of
.depend out of make and put a rule in one of the *.mk files.

IMHO including .depend as a rule in make is not good.  make
should be a generic tool that can be used in any environment
for doing everything from writing books to writing software.
Adding another hard-coded rule/value in make(1) makes it even
more biased in the build/maintenance of software programs.

I would be happy (if there are no strong objections) to remove
the rule from make and put it in one of the *.mk files, but
I really don't think always including .depend* files from
within make are the best answer for a generic build tool.

Just my opinion,

Steve