bug#12554: Checking MAKEFLAGS with RECURSIVE_TARGETS

[Michael Daniels]

Hello,

automake 1.11.3
make 3.81
Linux 3.2.0-23-generic x86_64

Just to get some initial context, automake is generating this code for 
recursive targets:

# This directory's subdirectories are mostly independent; you can cd
# into them and run `make' without going through this Makefile.
# To change the values of `make' variables: instead of editing Makefiles,
# (1) if the variable is set in `config.status', edit `config.status'
#     (which will cause the Makefiles to be regenerated when you run `make');
# (2) otherwise, pass the desired values on the `make' command line.
$(RECURSIVE_TARGETS):
    @fail= failcom='exit 1'; \
    for f in x $$MAKEFLAGS; do \
      case $$f in \
        *=* | --[!k]*);; \
        *k*) failcom='fail=yes';; \
      esac; \
    done; \
    dot_seen=no; \
    target=`echo $@ | sed s/-recursive//`; \
    .. and so on

Today I happened to set the environment variable MAKEFLAGS=-I/some/path/with/k/ 
and this was causing it to hit the *k* case unexpectedly due to the k in the 
include path. The only side effect was that when something fails to build, it 
zips past the terminal very quickly as it continues on making the other 
subdir's, very minor. The following makefile can be used to reproduce the 
behaviour:

$ cat Makefile
all:
    @echo MAKEFLAGS = $(MAKEFLAGS)
$ make -k -s
MAKEFLAGS = sk
$ make -k -s -I.
MAKEFLAGS = skI .
$ make -k -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/
MAKEFLAGS = skI . -I /some/path/with/k/
$ make -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/
MAKEFLAGS = sI . -I /some/path/with/k/
$ make -s -I. -I/some/path/with/k/ -j2
MAKEFLAGS = s --jobserver-fds=3,4 -j -I . -I /some/path/with/k/
$

So because the path is parsed in the loop, it is always matching *k*. The 
MAKEFLAGS behaviour is described in the manual here: 
http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Options_002fRecursion.html.

Unfortunately I do not know enough about these tools to suggest a proper fix, 
but to make things worse the behaviour does not seem to be uniform across 
platforms; http://www.hep.by/gnu/autoconf/The-Make-Macro-MAKEFLAGS.html

Thanks,

Mike


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