Question regarding alias expansion..

[Rick Flower]

Hi all...

I'm trying to update a build environment that currently uses a perl script
that expands certain keywords into specific command line args to GNU
Make.. I'm trying to get rid of this script while keeping the same
look-n-feel that people are used to.. So, below is what I'd like to be
able to do but can't seem to find a way to make it work w/ Make.. Keep in
mind that the sample below is simplified in nature and that we've got a
handful of these sort of command aliases..

old perl script:
 % pmake release target=sun
--> expanded to the following Make command
 % make debug=off asserts=off target=sun

what I'd like to see Make handle:
 % make release target=sun

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find a way to get Make to convert 'release'
into a set of predefined (canned) variables that then control the make
operation.. I've tried using 'define' but everything enclosed in the
'define' seems to set my variables when I don't want them set.. I also
toyed around with target specific variables too as that seemed close to
what I was looking for -- unfortunately, it didn't seem to work for my
sample test.. Any ideas on how to go about this?