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Date: Sat, 12 Jan 2002 09:12:21 -0600
To: Julio Merino <juli@merino.net>
Cc: questions@freebsd.org
Subject: Re: OT: BSD Make vs. GNU Make
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From: "Mike Meyer" <mwm-dated-1011280342.f54de8@mired.org>
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Julio Merino <juli@merino.net> types:
> I've listened several times that BSD Make is much more powerful than
> GNU Make. It is supposed to have more features. Though they are
> incompatible in some aspects :p
> 
> Well, is this true? Where are the main differences? Which one do you prefer?
> 
> I'm starting a project right now and I'm not sure of which one to use
> (I'm doing some make scripts like the ones under ports/mk...)

If you're going to be building lots of small independent things - like
ports/mk does - then use BSD make, and crib heavily from ports/mk.

If you're working on a single project - especially if it involves a
lot of interdependent things - then I recommend jam. Jam is in the
ports tree. It solves a fair number of the problems with make(*), and
is faster and more portable than either the BSD or GNU makes.

That said, I seldom use jam because external requirements - like those
from the client - often call for make.

	<mike

*) Ok, the problems in question aren't really with make, but with
   the standard practices in makefiles. Either make can be used in a way
   that works around some of those, but jam was designed for such usage
   to begin with, and the results are easier to deal with.

--
Mike Meyer <mwm@mired.org>			http://www.mired.org/home/mwm/
Independent WWW/Perforce/FreeBSD/Unix consultant, email for more information.

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