Re: getting warmer error messages

[Paul Smith]

I can only assume you're trying to prove a point by making this bug
report virtually unintelligible, with no concrete suggestions for
improvement.  Well played.  Unfortunately for your point, there's a good
reason for make's behavior.

Pattern rules only match if make can successfully create all the
prerequisites in the rule.  If one or more cannot be created, then the
pattern rule does not match.

If no pattern rule matches for a given target (and no explicit rules
exist for it), then make can't figure out how to build that target and
so it fails with a message saying that target cannot be built.

What else should it do?  For any given target there are usually many
possible pattern rules which it MIGHT match, if it could build the
prerequisites.  The default pattern rules, by themselves, provide a
number of ways of building any file, and a multitude of ways to build
some types of file.

I don't believe it would be useful for make to print a list of potential
targets that, if they could be built, would allow the target you asked
for to be built.

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 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