Re: How to always build a target?

[Brad Garcia]

On Mon, 30 Oct 2000, Steven Knight wrote:

> On Mon, 30 Oct 2000, Eric Brown wrote:
> > I'm converting my project from (recursive invocations of) nmake to Cons.
> > Currently, the project generates a header (containing the current date) on
> > every invocation; the generating tool is smart enough to not update the file
> > if it's not necessary.  How would I force the invocation of a Command script
> > on every invocation?
> 
> I don't know of any way to do this right now, short of making the target
> dependent on some other file that changes every time.

There's a patch floating around that changes the dependency analysis
somewhat.  When a file is rebuilt, cons generates a new "consign" for
that file based on the *contents* of the file instead of the inputs.
This would then be used in subsequent dependency calculations.

I've been using the patch for a while and it works wonderfully.
However, if your "compiler" throws timestamps into object files
(I think MS compilers do this?), then this doesn't work very well.

Brad Garcia