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Path: utzoo!watmath!jmsellens
From: jmsellens@watmath.UUCP (John M Sellens)
Newsgroups: net.unix
Subject: Re: Help needed with Makefile rules
Message-ID: <14557@watmath.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 20-May-85 22:25:40 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmath.14557
Posted: Mon May 20 22:25:40 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 21-May-85 05:46:06 EDT
References: <1092@uwmacc.UUCP> <10767@brl-tgr.ARPA> <1093@uwmacc.UUCP> <10816@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 17
Keywords: rules with one suffix

The paper "Make -- A Program for Maintaining Computer Programs" by S.I. Feldman
of Bell Labs, Murray Hill, dated August 15, 1978 only mentions rules for use
when creating a file with a suffix from another file of the same name but with
a different suffix e.g. the .c.o rule.  (I believe that this is the original
documentation and specification of Make.)

The 4.2bsd make does not allow you to specify a rule with only one suffix
but the System Vr2 make does.  For example, a rule to create executables from
.o files could be
    .o:
	    cc -o $* $*.o  # $* is the common prefix

A trick that is used here at Waterloo is to use a .o.out rule to create
something.out and make a symbolic link to it with the appropriate suffix-less
name.

John