Re: [gnu-prog-discuss] Could automake-generated Makefiles required GNU make?

[Bob Friesenhahn]

On Tue, 22 Nov 2011, Ralf Corsepius wrote:
> > Another question is if GNU make is really good enough to warrant this
> > sort of change.
> Good point - gmake has a long history of "hickups" :-)

My question was not meant to imply that GNU make is riddled with bugs. 
My question is if deciding to move to a tool which optimizes 30+ year 
old build concepts is a good idea.

Automake is a good build system because it provides a simple syntax by 
which the developer can specify his intention.

Any analysis of the build for large projects will show that 
timestamp-based 'make' and recursion lead to huge losses in build 
performance and build integrity.

Build dependencies and knowledge of the current build state are not 
adequately handled by timestamp-based 'make', even if it is GNU make.

Software builds will only grow larger.  It is time for some innovative 
thinking.

Bob
--
Bob Friesenhahn
address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/
GraphicsMagick Maintainer,    http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/