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From: brandon@tdi2.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: .hushlogin
Message-ID: <357@tdi2.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-May-87 19:01:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: tdi2.357
Posted: Fri May 22 19:01:22 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 26-May-87 00:54:41 EDT
References: <7407@brl-adm.ARPA>
Reply-To: brandon@tdi2.UUCP (Brandon Allbery)
Followup-To: comp.unix.questions
Organization: Tridelta Industries, Inc., Mentor, Ohio
Lines: 38

Quoted from <7407@brl-adm.ARPA> [".hushlogin"], by MARSELLE%gmr.com@RELAY.CS.NET...
+---------------
| If I use a .hushlogin which looks like this:
| 
| .hushlogin:	/etc/motd
| 	cat /etc/motd
| 	touch .hushlogin
| 
| I get:
| Make: No arguments or description file.  Stop.
+---------------

A make rule starting with a period is a generic rule for converting a file
with some suffix to a file with another suffix (or a file with no suffix).
Thus, make sees a rule to convert xxx.hushlogin to xxx for any xxx, but no
other commands to actually do anything.  Backslashing the `.' makes it a
normal (i.e. specific) rule, so make has something to do.

+---------------
| Also, even if you use "make -s -f .hushlogin" to suppress the make
| chatter, make will still print out "`.hushlogin' is up to date"
| when you log in and /etc/motd hasn't been changed.
+---------------

A ``kluge'' I use to get around this is:

all: foo
foo: (dependencies and commands)

Actually, `all' may be any file you don't have.  Since there is no file `all'
and your rules don't create one, make is silent about its (non)existence.

++Brando
-- 
Brandon S. Allbery	           UUCP: cbatt!cwruecmp!ncoast!tdi2!brandon
Tridelta Industries, Inc.         CSNET: ncoast!allbery@Case
7350 Corporate Blvd.	       INTERNET: ncoast!allbery%Case.CSNET@relay.CS.NET
Mentor, Ohio 44060		  PHONE: +1 216 255 1080 (home +1 216 974 9210)