Re: make-3.80: `eval' bug

[Paul D. Smith]

I think I'm going to make it 3.81.  I'm tired of the extra version on
the end: it orders incorrectly when people look up versions on the FTP
site and too many people pick the older version instead of the newer
one :).

I don't plan on releasing it immediately; I only meant that I planned to
fix it and check the fix into CVS (which I have now done: you can also
find a patch attached to a closed bug in the GNU make project in
Savannah).

While I certainly plan to release 3.81 sooner rather than later (for
example, certainly before the end of the year), I do have a few smaller
items I want to fix, plus there are some ports (to OS/2 and MingW) that
have been waiting in the wings.

I'll only do a release "very soon" if I find a major brown-bag bug.


As for the version numbering, the fact that GNU make is a string-based
tool and has no numeric operators anyway makes me reluctant to complicate
the variable space with extra variables.

Instead I'm seriously considering something suggested to me by Greg
McGary, based on Emacs' provide/require (well, I don't know if that's
where he got the idea but that's what it reminds me of :)), which would
create a variable like $(.MAKE_FEATURES) containing space-separated
strings for all the major "enhanced" features that are present in the
current version of GNU make.

Then you can use $(filter ...) etc. to determine if the features you
require are present.

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
 http://www.gnu.org                      http://make.paulandlesley.org
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist