Inconsistent VPATH behavior ..

[Harsha Kalidindi]

Hi:
        I could not get help on the help-make list. Please let me know if 
I should explain the issue further ..

        We are using GNU make 3.79.1.

        There is a GNUmakefile in /user/u/src that has a rule like this:

        install_scripts: ../install/scripts/scr.pl

        ../install/%: %
                install -m 444 $(<) $(@)

        We have a file like so :        /user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl

        The master project is in /user/p/src. There is a copy of the same 
makefile in this directory and the script is installed in this tree also at 
/user/p/install/scripts/scr.pl.

        The problem is when gmake is run in /user/u/src.

        1. VPATH is set to /user/p/src.
        2. If /user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl exists and if the file 
/user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl is older then, it is installed. As expected.
        3. However, if /user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl does not exist and 
if the file /user/u/src/scripts/scr.pl is NOT older that 
/user/p/install/scripts/scr.pl, then it is not installed in /user/u/install.

        gmake says (when run with -d) because of  the VPATH setting , it 
is looking at /user/p/src/../install/scripts/scr.pl and since it is older 
there is no need to run the rule. However it runs the rule if 
/user/u/install/scripts/scr.pl exists.

        Why does it behave differently depending on the existence of a 
file in the install tree and take VPATH into consider in one instance and 
not do so every time?

Thanks,
Harsha

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