Re: Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?

[Peter Rosin]

Stefano Lattarini skrev 2011-11-21 21:56:
>> Stefano Lattarini wrote:
>>>                                            because GNU make is very
>>> portable and easy to build and install (and free from bootstrapping
>>> problems AFAIK), and because the incompatibilities between different
>>> make versions are so appalling.

There is one possibly hard bootstrapping problem. What if you want to
deploy some package that does not need a C compiler on some system that
lacks both a C compiler and GNU Make? You would have problems there for
sure. Some number-crunching fortran-centric piece comes to mind, or some
locked down financial system where a cobol compiler or something is
present, but no C compiler.

But it's down in the bedrock below the basement if you're going by the
number of affected systems of course...

So, my point is that the requirement is not "GNU Make and build it if
missing", it's "GNU Make /or/ GNU Make sources plus a C compiler".

(plus whatever else is needed to build GNU Make, a shell I suppose)

Cheers,
Peter