Re: [doc] MAKEOVERRIDES is undocumented

[Alejandro Colomar]

Hi Paul,

On 12/19/22 17:16, Paul Smith wrote:
> On Mon, 2022-12-19 at 16:45 +0100, Alejandro Colomar wrote:
> > I had to search some related things in stackoverflow to find this.  I
> > think you should document this (and a few others) in 'Other Special
> > Variables'
> > <https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Special-Variables.html>.
>
> I agree it would be good to add these variables there.  But, note that
> this variable is documented:
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Options_002fRecursion.html#index-MAKEOVERRIDES
>
> You can find this by searching the index of the manual:
>
> https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Name-Index.html

Actually, I found that, but after looking at stackoverflow.  Since I gign't know 
the name of the variable I needed, I didn't know exactly what to search for.  I 
only knew the functionallity I wanted.

I knew about the existence of MAKECMDGOALS, which BTW is also only referenced in 
other docs, but not listed in the documentation for special variables either. 
So I searched stackoverflow for things related to MAKECMDGOALS in search of a 
mention to anything similar, and I got it:
<https://stackoverflow.com/a/38754878>

And another variable (and this one is not mentioned at all in the manual): 
MAKEFLAGS.  When I tested these variables, I was a bit confused about MAKEFLAGS: 
it didn't print `j`, but printed `p`...

> I think looking in the manual is usually a better bet than looking in
> stackoverflow, at least initially :).

Anyway, I'm diverting.  The thing is that when I know the functionallity but not 
the name, either it's listed in the list where it should be, or stackoverflow is 
better at finding stuff :)

I usually start searching at the single-page HTML document here:
<https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.html>.  Then, plan B is SO.


Cheers,

Alex

--
<http://www.alejandro-colomar.es/>

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