Long dependency chain in otherwise parallel build

[Jed Brown]

I have a C library that offers a Fortran 90 interface consisting of 8
source files that form a length 7 dependency chain.  A Fortran module
cannot be built until modules on which it depends have been built, so
building the Fortran modules is sequential.  The library has about 1000
C source files, but C compiles much faster than Fortran and each
compilation is independent so parallel builds at about make -j8 and
above can spend as much or more time building the Fortran interface as
building the entire C library.  This would be mostly hidden if parallel
make eagerly pursued the critical path of the Fortran modules, but I've
been unable to convince it to do so -- instead the first module and all
the C sources are built first, then all the other Fortran modules.

Is it possible (without recursive make) to have make start building
these other Fortran modules as soon as their dependencies are met
instead of only after all the independent objects (from C sources) have
been built?

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