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Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!ptsfa!ihnp4!twitch!ho7cad!ekb
From: ekb@ho7cad.ATT.COM (#ERIC K. BUSTAD)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Strange C-compiler message ...
Message-ID: <167@ho7cad.ATT.COM>
Date: Thu, 7-May-87 10:07:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: ho7cad.167
Posted: Thu May  7 10:07:45 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 9-May-87 22:09:33 EDT
References: <214@cjsa.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 35
Summary: it's from make


In article <214@cjsa.UUCP>, jeff@cjsa.UUCP (C. Jeffery Small) writes:
> 
> 	$! nulled, predecessor circle
> 
> [ Asks whether it comes from cc and what it means.]

The message is from make.  $! to be an undocumented make macro
which contains the names of all predecessors of the current
target.  If your makefile contains the following

	a: b

	b: c

	c: d

	d: bin
		echo $!

and you run "make a", you get this output:

		echo  d c b a 
	d c b a

The message seems to indicate a loop in the file dependencies,
such as

	a: b

	b: c

	c: a

= Eric