Re: why can't gnumake utilize non-filename pattern rules?

[Randy Yates]

Henrik Carlqvist <Henrik.Carlqvist@deadspam.com> writes:

> Randy Yates <yates@ieee.org> wrote:
>> make won't work - it simply skips the pattern rule.
>
> I have a vauge memory about a bug in gnu make 3.80. If I remember right
> the bug caused make to skip pattern rules at some circumstances. For
> me it helped to upgrade to version 3.81 of gnu make to avoid the problem.
>
> Are you using a version of gnu make older than 3.81?

Hi Henrik,

Thank you for responding. 

No, I am using 3.81. 

This is not a bug - it's in the manual. 

  Since it knows that phony targets do not name actual files that could
  be remade from other files, make skips the implicit rule search for
  phony targets (see Chapter 10 [Implicit Rules], page 89). This is
  why declaring a target phony is good for performance, even if you
  are not worried about the actual file existing.


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