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From: eugene@eos.arc.nasa.gov (Eugene Miya)
Newsgroups: comp.parallel
Subject: Re: distributed make(1)?
Message-ID: <5511@hubcap.clemson.edu>
Date: 17 May 89 19:22:07 GMT
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Approved: parallel@hubcap.clemson.edu

Response to Jim's mail--
I think there has to be made the distinction of a parallel make
versus a more loosely coupled distributed make.  I think the credit,
if that is really important, goes to the folks at Bell Labs like
Rob Pike, Mash, Ken and Dennis for a thin wire make.

>>What I would hope to see is that these programs be made widely available
>>to the Unix community.  Rather than keep them as company value-add-ons,...
>
>Agreed.  But there is no good way for someone like CRI to effectively
>sell it cheaply
>and they have little incentive to give it away.
>Perhaps CRI could be convinced the "prestige" or some such is
>worth the giving away of such software.  But even this won't work

I think GNU is an excellent example.  It is in CRI, Sequent's, Encore's
and everyone elses best interests because these machines are rarely
use in homogeneous environments.  IF I have tools which run one
way on my workstation and a different way on my 2, life would have
more griff.  Why I'd spend even more time in the Cray window than the news
window ;).  Some simple tools should just be given away.  It only
hurts the competition more which don't have it.  BTW, I don't think the Bell
version ever got out of the Labs.

>>If your machine does not use make (ala it runs a non-Unix type OS),
>>that is your loss.  "Roll you own."
>
>VMS has a "make" clone called MMS.  But VMS is becoming more and
>more Unix-like every day...

BTW: make is just okay.  There are better systems, make is just a
least common denominator.  Make has lots of problems, but Cedar/Mesa
doesn't run on everything (and it has problems, too.).  You can
also learn about a company's Unix port by how well make
supports a language like Fortran.  If you have simple file.f, and they
tout their new souped up Fortran compiler and you make a quick
Makefile (actually I do this for a dozen programs at a time):
	file:
It's interesting to watch which fortran compiler if any is grabbed by
the dependency.  So far only our Crays generate the correct compiler
dependences.  These people must program their machines!  The 2 and Y
produce a cf77.  Our ETA-10, our Amdahl, other machines, require modifying
the macro.  ftn77, 77, and things we won't mention.  Respecting confidentially.

--eugene