Re: AM_V_GEN - better docs

[Miles Bader]

Patrick Rutkowski <address@hidden> writes:
> I don't get from that page how to apply to all my $(CC) build
> commands, and I really want to quiet down this very messy "make"
> output I now have.

When silent-rules is enabled, you don't need to do anything special in
Makefile.am for "normal" commands (those commands which get invoked
via standard make rules), only those commands you invoke explicitly.

For commands which you invoke explicitly, you can just add $(AM_V_GEN)
before the command name, e.g., change:

   foo.barf: foo.blarghhh
           barfify -o $@ $<

to:

   foo.barf: foo.blarghhh
           $(AM_V_GEN)barfify -o $@ $<

That just prints "GEN foo.barf" when building foo.barf; to print
something more target specific, you can follow the "pkg_..." example
in the doc, e.g.:

   barf_verbose = $(barf_verbose_$(V))
   barf_verbose_ = $(barf_verbose_$(AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY))
   barf_verbose_0 = @echo "  BARF  " $@;

   foo.barf: foo.blarghhh
           $(barf_verbose)barfify -o $@ $<

> The doc page there doesn't even suggest where to look to learn how
> to apply it to your build.

It does, kinda, but maybe it doesn't go far enough; right now it says:

  "To enable less verbose build rules, both the developer and the user
   of the package have to take a number of steps. The developer needs to
   do either of the following:

   + Add the silent-rules option as argument to AM_INIT_AUTOMAKE.

   + Call the AM_SILENT_RULES macro from within the configure.ac file."

.. but even after you do that, silent-rules mode defaults to "off";
the user may then turn it on by using the --enable-silent-rules option
to configure.

Maybe it would be good to specify what the should be done to make it
default to _on_, e.g.:

  "+ To enable silent-rules by default, specify an argument of "yes"
     to AM_SILENT_RULES, i.e., add "AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])" to the
     configure.ac file"

[I know that because somebody else posted it on this list recently :]

-miles

-- 
"1971 pickup truck; will trade for guns"