Re: GNU Make enhansment patch - batching compiles

[Eli Zaretskii]

On Thu, 3 May 2001, Jason Wessel wrote:

> I needed the ability to change a variable from
> inside the command section of a rule.  Doing
> this allows me to build a list of files that need
> to be compiled, instead of passing the files to
> the compiler one at a time.  We have a program
> that builds the make files already.  The idea is
> to feed the compiler multiple source files at the
> same time.

I'm confused: I don't understand how would you like this to work in 
practice (yes, I looked at the Makefile you attached, but I still cannot 
figure it out).

First, how do you figure out which files need to be compiled and which 
don't?  If this is based on the files' time stamps only, then the Make 
macro $? should allow you to do that without any extra features.

If that somehow isn't enough, it should be possible to have Make include 
a file with the list of files that need to be recompiled.  You could then
have a special rule which generates that file as the first step of the 
build process.  Something similar to what is explained in the manual 
about makedepend rules.