stem substitution

[Mike Popham]

I was trying to do something similar to:
$(TARGETS): %.a_pattern: $(subst something, something_else, %.b_pattern)

Specifically I want to process files myfile.i2, myfile.i3, etc., and turn
them into myfile.2, myfile.3, etc., using (doesn't work, I know):

$(TARGETS) : $(TARGETDIR)/% : $(subst .,.i,%) 
        myprocess $< $@

In the July 2000 post:
http://www.mail-archive.com/address@hidden/msg00107.html
it says "An upcoming new feature in GNU make will allow for
this sort of thing"

I can't find any reference to a new feature that does this.
Was it ever added, and if so, how would I go about using it?

For now, I just have a bunch of
$(TARGETDIR)/%.2 : %.i2
        myprocess $< $@
$(TARGETDIR)/%.3 : %.i3
        myprocess $< $@
etc., rules, so it is working, but it is ugly.

Mike Popham