Re: makefile rule for running msgmerge

[John Darrington]

It looks as if you are correct.  Can you suggest a better rule which 
will do the job?

'
On Thu, Oct 08, 2009 at 08:31:04PM -0700, Ben Pfaff wrote:
     The rule in po/automake.mk for running msgmerge looks like this:
     
         $(POFILES): $(POTFILE)
                 $(MSGMERGE) $(top_srcdir)/$* $< -o $@
     
     I don't think this makes sense.  This expands to:
     
         po/en_GB.po po/nl.po po/pt_BR.po: po/pspp.pot
                 $(MSGMERGE) $(top_srcdir)/$* $< -o $@
     
     which is an explicit rule, not an implicit rule.  According to
     the GNU make manual, $* expands like this in an explicit rule:
     
          In an explicit rule, there is no stem; so `$*' cannot be determined
          in that way.  Instead, if the target name ends with a recognized
          suffix (*note Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules: Suffix Rules.), `$*' is
          set to the target name minus the suffix.  For example, if the
          target name is `foo.c', then `$*' is set to `foo', since `.c' is a
          suffix.  GNU `make' does this bizarre thing only for compatibility
          with other implementations of `make'.  You should generally avoid
          using `$*' except in implicit rules or static pattern rules.
     
          If the target name in an explicit rule does not end with a
          recognized suffix, `$*' is set to the empty string for that rule.
     
     so $* will either be something like po/en_GB or even the empty
     string here.  I've seen the former in some runs; I'm not sure
     I've seen the latter.  But neither one makes sense to me.
     
     Also, POSIX says $< and $@ are defined only for implicit rules,
     but I don't think that's the problem, since I think I've seen
     problems here even with GNU make.
     -- 
     Regarding a Microsoft/Xerox agreement:
        "This is a match made in heaven.
         Both companies excel at copying other people's work."
     address@hidden <URL:http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=99/05/16/2211252>

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