VPATH question

[Gisle Vanem]

Hello list.

I sometimes have issues when a 'VPATH' doesn't
do what I'd like. E.g. in this 'vpath-test.mak'
file:
  #
  # there is a 'apps/lib' directory here:
  #
  VPATH = apps
  GEN_DIRS = ./lib

  default all: $(GEN_DIRS)
  $(GEN_DIRS):
     mkdir --verbose $@

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

So I want to create a './lib' directory in
'Current Directory', but gnumake won't do it
since there is a 'lib' under 'apps'. Output:
  gnumake: Nothing to be done for 'default'.

Why doesn't it understand the meaning of '.'?
It also drops the '.' in the --debug' output.

Only with a 'vpath %.c apps' it works as expected
off-course.

Besides I feel it's not very helpful explaining why
it won't do "Nothing..". E.g. if I make a typo:
  default all: $(GEN_DIRS2)

it's the same bleeding message. Adding a '--debug=w',
would be nice with a 'why not' message. Only adding
'MAKEFLAGS += --warn-undefined-variables' is somewhat
helpful.

I'm using GNUmake 4.4.0.90 on Win-10.

--
--gv