Re: distclean should walk subdirs in reverse order

[Harlan Stenn]

Stefano Lattarini writes:
> My suggestion: if files in different subdirectories are actually
> dependent on each other (that is, the subdirectories are not
> really independent "modules" that can be built independently and
> oblivious to each other), re-organize your build system to stop
> using makefile recursion.  For more background and rationales, see
> Peter Miller's excellent paper "Recursive Make Considered Harmful":
> <http://aegis.sourceforge.net/auug97.pdf>
> 
> See also the old similar issue:
> <http://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=12064>
> 
> (Sorry for the overly curt reply, but time is what it is these
> days).

The problem I've had is that the info above does a great job of saying
"recursive Make can be a problem" but I haven't found anything to help
me make a useful non-recursive Make system.  I haven't found a useful
example of even the general case, where one invokes "make" from the
top-level build directory.  And to be actually useful, I'd want to be
able to go to any subdir of the build directory, invoke "make"  or "make
thing" and have the right stuff happen.

H