bug#12554: Checking MAKEFLAGS with RECURSIVE_TARGETS

[Stefano Lattarini]

severity 12554 minor
tags 12554 + patch
thanks

On 10/01/2012 11:52 PM, Michael Daniels wrote:
> Hello,
>
Hi Michael, sorry for the delay.

> automake 1.11.3
> make 3.81
> Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64
> 
> Just to get some initial context, automake is generating this code for
> recursive targets:
> 
> # This directory's subdirectories are mostly independent; you can cd
> # into them and run `make' without going through this Makefile.
> # To change the values of `make' variables: instead of editing Makefiles,
> # (1) if the variable is set in `config.status', edit `config.status'
> #     (which will cause the Makefiles to be regenerated when you run `make');
> # (2) otherwise, pass the desired values on the `make' command line.
> $(RECURSIVE_TARGETS):
>     @fail= failcom='exit 1'; \
>     for f in x $$MAKEFLAGS; do \
>       case $$f in \
>         *=* | --[!k]*);; \
>         *k*) failcom='fail=yes';; \
>       esac; \
>     done; \
>     dot_seen=no; \
>     target=`echo $@ | sed s/-recursive//`; \
>     .. and so on
> 
> Today I happened to set the environment variable 
> MAKEFLAGS=-I/some/path/with/k/
> and this was causing it to hit the *k* case unexpectedly due to the k in the
> include path. The only side effect was that when something fails to build, it
> zips past the terminal very quickly as it continues on making the other 
> subdir's,
> very minor. The following makefile can be used to reproduce the behaviour:
> 
> $ cat Makefile
> all:
>     @echo MAKEFLAGS = $(MAKEFLAGS)
> $ make -k -s
> MAKEFLAGS = sk
> $ make -k -s -I.
> MAKEFLAGS = skI .
> $ make -k -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/
> MAKEFLAGS = skI . -I /some/path/with/k/
> $ make -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/
> MAKEFLAGS = sI . -I /some/path/with/k/
> $ make -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/ -j2
> MAKEFLAGS = s --jobserver-fds=3,4 -j -I . -I /some/path/with/k/
> $
> 
> So because the path is parsed in the loop, it is always matching *k*.
> The MAKEFLAGS behaviour is described in the manual here:
> http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Options_002fRecursion.html.
> 
> Unfortunately I do not know enough about these tools to suggest a proper fix,
> but to make things worse the behaviour does not seem to be uniform across
> platforms; http://www.hep.by/gnu/autoconf/The-Make-Macro-MAKEFLAGS.html
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Mike
> 
I've prepared a patch series that appears to fix the issue.  I will post it
here soon.  Testing and feedback is appreciated.  Barring objections, I'm
going to push the series to the branch-1.13.2 in a couple of days.

Thanks,
  Stefano