[automake-commit] branch master updated: doc: --always-make doesn't work.

[Karl Berry]

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     new ccca652  doc: --always-make doesn't work.
ccca652 is described below

commit ccca652af500de975c12f5de6434d86a97532b68
Author: Karl Berry <karl@freefriends.org>
AuthorDate: Mon Jun 7 18:09:25 2021 -0700

    doc: --always-make doesn't work.
    
    * doc/automake.texi (Rebuilding): the GNU Make option
    --always-make does not work with Automake.
    Report from Johan Persson,
    https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/automake/2021-06/msg00002.html.
    Also, use "GNU Make" (capital M) more consistently.
---
 doc/automake.texi | 21 +++++++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/automake.texi b/doc/automake.texi
index e6356cd..f73a588 100644
--- a/doc/automake.texi
+++ b/doc/automake.texi
@@ -1810,15 +1810,15 @@ the Automake distribution includes a non-standard rule 
for the
 @code{git-dist} target, which the Automake maintainer uses to make
 distributions from the source control system.
 
-@cindex GNU make extensions
+@cindex GNU Make extensions
 
-Note that most GNU make extensions are not recognized by Automake.  Using
+Note that most GNU Make extensions are not recognized by Automake.  Using
 such extensions in a @file{Makefile.am} will lead to errors or confusing
 behavior.
 
 @cindex Append operator
 @cmindex +=
-A special exception is that the GNU make append operator, @samp{+=}, is
+A special exception is that the GNU Make append operator, @samp{+=}, is
 supported.  This operator appends its right hand argument to the variable
 specified on the left.  Automake will translate the operator into
 an ordinary @samp{=} operator; @samp{+=} will thus work with any make program.
@@ -10215,6 +10215,15 @@ the file automatically.  An inconvenience is that 
@command{autoconf}
 will now be rerun each time the version number is bumped, when only
 @file{configure} had to be rerun in the previous setup.
 
+@opindex --always-make @r{GNU Make option}
+GNU Make, at least, has an option @option{--always-make} which tells
+Make to consider that all targets are out of date.  This interacts
+badly with Automake-generated Makefiles, which implement their own
+careful rules for when to regenerate Makefiles, as described above.
+The result is an endless loop, or other poor behavior.  The only thing
+to do, as far as we know, is to refrain from using
+@option{--always-make}.
+
 
 @node Options
 @chapter Changing Automake's Behavior
@@ -11013,7 +11022,7 @@ verbose output from @command{make} ends up being mostly 
noise that hampers
 the easy detection of potentially important warning messages.
 
 @node Tricks For Silencing Make
-@section Standard and generic ways to silence make
+@section Standard and generic ways to silence Make
 
 Here we describe some common idioms/tricks to obtain a quieter make
 output, with their relative advantages and drawbacks.  In the next
@@ -11071,7 +11080,7 @@ automatically activated if the @option{-s} flag is used.
 @end itemize
 
 @node Automake Silent Rules
-@section How Automake can help in silencing make
+@section How Automake can help in silencing Make
 
 The tricks and idioms for silencing @command{make} described in the
 previous section can be useful from time to time, but we've seen that
@@ -11591,7 +11600,7 @@ keep the third-party sources untouched to ease upgrades 
to new
 versions.
 
 @cindex @file{GNUmakefile} including @file{Makefile}
-Here are two other ideas.  If GNU make is assumed, one possibility is
+Here are two other ideas.  If GNU Make is assumed, one possibility is
 to add to that subdirectory a @file{GNUmakefile} that defines the
 required targets and includes the third-party @file{Makefile}.  For
 this to work in VPATH builds, @file{GNUmakefile} must lie in the build