Repost: Updating local makefile

[Tristan Van Berkom]

Tristan Van Berkom wrote:
[snip]
>  From what I understand from reading the docs at gnu.org/manual
> is that if I provide a rule to update a makefile (a makefile that
> is /used/) then it should be updated before any other targets.
>
>
> To test this rule without my entire build environment,
> I used a makefile like this:
> ####################################################
> all:
>     @echo "Thats all she wrote"
>
> $(CURDIR)/Makefile:$(CURDIR)/globalconfig/Makefile
>         @echo -n "Updating address@hidden "
>         @cp -f $< $@
>         @echo "Done."
>
> # XXX This line fixes it, but I don't think I should need it
> #all:$(CURDIR)/Makefile
>
> ####################################################

My apolagies for the repost,
    but I would really like to know if this is a bug in GNU Make
or if this is the expected behaviour.

Must I go about this using relative paths/vpaths and pattern rules ?


Best regards,
                     -Tristan

PS:
    If its unclear, the problem is; when invoking the afore mentioned
makefile with `make all'; `Makefile' doesn't get updated first when
the Makefile in $(CURDIR)/globalconfig is "new".

This is reproducable with GNU Make 3.79