Re: % vs. "No rule to make target"

[Paul Smith]

On Mon, 2008-06-09 at 11:28 +0800, address@hidden wrote:
> OK, OK, is perhaps this message,
>   make: *** No rule to make target `zzzzz', needed by `aaaaa'.  Stop.
> is actually triggered by several different conditions, and could
> instead be refashioned into several more exact messages, e.g., no rule
> at all, no best rule, etc.

Sorry, but I don't agree with your premise.  This message is triggered
by one, and exactly one, situation: make couldn't find a rule to build
that target.  It looked for an explicit rule and didn't find one; it
looked for an implicit rule and didn't find one.  So it gave up.  If
make had found one, it would have used it.

I don't understand the distinction you're making here between "no rule
at all" and "no best rule" (what's a "best rule"?), and just "no rule".
Maybe if you could be more precise in your definitions I'd be able to
see what you're looking for.

Cheers!

-- 
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