A possible bug (or a feature) : dependencies shown in dry-run but not rebuilt

[David Mentre]

Hello,

I don't know if it is a bug or a feature, but I observe a strange behavior
with a makefile of my own.

You'll find the Makefile as well as needed dummy file in the attachement.

For this project, if a make a 'make' on an empty directory, everything is
made correctly.

However, if I modify a file...

address@hidden bug-report]$ touch x.h

... a "dry-run" seems to show that dependencies will be rebuild correclty:

address@hidden bug-report]$ make -n
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c x.c -o x-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c perf.c -o perf-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c reas.c -o reas-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c seg_desc.c -o
seg_desc-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c info.c -o info-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c decoding.c -o
decoding-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -DTEST -c autotest.c -o
autotest-test.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. x-test.o perf-test.o reas-test.o
seg_desc-test.o info-test.o decoding-test.o autotest-test.o misc-test.o -o
x-test  -lpthread
echo "  ** do tests **"
./x-test
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c x.c -o x.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c perf.c -o perf.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c reas.c -o reas.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c seg_desc.c -o seg_desc.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c info.c -o info.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c decoding.c -o decoding.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. -c autotest.c -o autotest.o
cc -Wall -D_REENTRANT -DI686 -g -pipe -I. x.o perf.o reas.o seg_desc.o
info.o decoding.o autotest.o misc.o -o x 

However, when I execute the real 'make' command, nothing is done.

address@hidden bug-report]$ make
  ** do tests **
./x-test

In the same way, when I do a 'make x.o', make replies to me that "'x.o' is
up do date'".

I'm using make 3.79.1 on GNU/Linux Mandrake 8.1.

address@hidden bug-report]$ make --version
GNU Make version 3.79.1, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath.
Built for i586-mandrake-linux-gnu
[...]


I have looked at make manual but found nothing related to my issue. It is
possible that I have not understood some features regarding defined rules
and dependencies with build commands.

Many thanks in advance for any help in this issue,
Best regards,
David Mentré
-- 
David Mentré <address@hidden> - Research engineer
Mitsubishi Electric ITE-TCL / European Telecommunication Research Laboratory

Phone : +33 2 99 84 16 78

bug-report.tar.gz
Description: Binary data