Re: Help - I'm going mad!!! /bin/bash: --gnu: command not found

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Dr. David Kirkby" <address@hidden> writes:

  dk> make[1]: Entering directory `/export/home/davek/atlc/src'
  dk> cd .. && \
  dk>    --gnu  src/Makefile
  dk> /bin/bash: --gnu: command not found

  dk> /bin/bash does exist by the way, but seems unwillig to accept the
  dk> --gnu option.

Nope, that's not what this means.  The error is not _about_ bash, it's
being generated _by_ bash.

Look more closely at the command line you're running: extracting the
backslash it's:

  cd .. && --gnu src/Makefile

That tells the shell it should cd to .., then if that succeeds run the
program after the &&, which is --gnu, with an argument src/Makefile.
There is no program "--gnu" on your system, so bash reports this error:

  --gnu: command not found


It seems pretty obvious that there's something missing in this command
line.  Probably in the makefile there's a variable there that's supposed
to hold the name of the command, but for some reason it contains no
value so it's being expanded to the empty string.  That's about all I
can tell you at this point, but you can stop going mad about this
particular message now, at least! :)

-- 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
 http://www.gnu.org                      http://make.paulandlesley.org
 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist