Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!jarthur!nntp-server.caltech.edu!ptimtc!mips!sgi!shinobu!odin!sgihub!zola!tweezers.esd.sgi.com!portuesi
From: portuesi@tweezers.esd.sgi.com (Michael Portuesi)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi
Subject: Re: Makefile whitespace... a neophyte question.
Message-ID: <1991May14.185121.8893@zola.esd.sgi.com>
Date: 14 May 91 18:51:21 GMT
References: <76A4A8F2A29F002123@NRCNET.NRC.CA>
Sender: news@zola.esd.sgi.com (Net News)
Organization: Silicon Graphics Inc.
Lines: 31

In article <76A4A8F2A29F002123@NRCNET.NRC.CA>, SERRER@ODIN.NRC.CA
(Martin Serrer) writes:
||> wave: wave.o wagen.o
|>         ${CC} ${LDFLAGS} ${OBJS} -o $@ ${LIBS}
|> 
|>   If the whitespace before the ${CC} is a <tab>, everything is
|> fine. But try
|> using <spaces> and the following 'helpful' error appears...

Correct.  The line containing the commands to be executed if the
target needs to be rebuilt must begin with a tab, or else make will
barf.

|>   Was this an unfortunate choice of syntax back in pre-history and
|> is cast in
|> stone or can something be done about it.

It was an unfortunate choice of syntax back and pre-history and is
cast in stone.  Sorry.

|>I always thought that 'white space is
|> white space is white space'

To all civil language parsers, it is.

-- 
__
\/  Michael Portuesi   Silicon Graphics, Inc.   portuesi@sgi.com

"High Eagle Road is tacky.  Trust us.  We're queer.  We understand
these things."  -- Jonathan Katz