Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!henry.jpl.nasa.gov!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!ames!fxgrp!news
From: grady@fxgrp.fx.com (Steven Grady)
Newsgroups: gnu.utils.bug
Subject: gnumake problem
Message-ID: <1989Nov30.204208.28784@fxgrp.fx.com>
Date: 30 Nov 89 20:42:08 GMT
Reply-To: grady@fxgrp.fx.com (Steven Grady)
Distribution: gnu
Organization: FXDevelopment, Mountain View, CA
Lines: 23

make 3.57 (and earlier versions, I believe) does not handle intermediate
files correctly:

	% touch foo.y
	% touch foo.o
	% gnumake -n foo.o
	cc    -c foo.c -o foo.o

(There's no makefile -- the default rules demonstrate the problem.)

I think the problem is that since foo.o is newer than foo.y, make doesn't
see any reason to invoke a production on foo.y.  But, since foo.c
doesn't exist, it assumes the worst -- that foo.o needs to be remade
from foo.c, so it invokes the appropriate production.  This is just
a guess, of course.  

This is a pretty severe problem.

	Steven
	...!ucbvax!grady
	grady@postgres.berkeley.edu

"You try any preversions in there, and I'll blow your head off."