Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?

[Stefano Lattarini]

Hi Bob.

On Tuesday 22 November 2011, Bob Friesenhahn wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Nov 2011, Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> >
> >> Another question is if GNU make is really good enough to warrant this
> >> sort of change.
> > Good point - gmake has a long history of "hickups" :-)
> 
> My question was not meant to imply that GNU make is riddled with bugs. 
> My question is if deciding to move to a tool which optimizes 30+ year 
> old build concepts is a good idea.
> 
> Automake is a good build system because it provides a simple syntax by 
> which the developer can specify his intention.
> 
> Any analysis of the build for large projects will show that 
> timestamp-based 'make' and recursion lead to huge losses in build 
> performance and build integrity.
> 
> Build dependencies and knowledge of the current build state are not 
> adequately handled by timestamp-based 'make', even if it is GNU make.
> 
> Software builds will only grow larger.  It is time for some innovative 
> thinking.
> 
I have to drop the ball on this, because I don't feel qualified nor
motivated enough to follow you on this road (especially not qualified
enough).

Also, if a non-negligible percentage of peoples have problems accepting
even just GNU make as a requirement over plain vendor make, I'm not sure
how your theoretical new-generation build tools would be greeted in
practice.

All of this is not to belittle your idea, that should be clear -- it's
just that IMHO it sounds quite ortoghonal to the ongoing discussion.

Regards,
  Stefano