Re: Finding Circular Dependencies

[Alexander Kriegisch]

> GNU make's dependency graph is not a single-rooted tree.  It's a set
> of directed acyclic graphs.  There isn't really any one starting
> point inherent in the graph.  GNU make starts either (a) where the
> user asks via command line goals, or (b) the first target it finds in
> the makefiles.
> 
> The question is, do you want to construct a graph of the entire set
> of targets that are defined in the makefile?  Because it's quite
> common for there to be a number of completely disjoint graphs.  Or do
> you want to construct a graph for the targets that will actually be
> checked during a given invocation of make?

Both, optionally, if you ask me. The full set of graphs as an XML
structure would be nice as a minimum, so I could filter out what I do
not need. A second option to limit the output to just the target(s)
specified/checked during an invocation would come in handy, too.

May I be so bold as to ask if it would furthermore be possible to handle
recursive make calls in a structured way? Say, I have a buildroot with
several sub-makes for third-party applications. Would it be possible to
dump all make outputs in one big tree (might be a problem because of
multiple targets with the same name) or each one in a separate file +
information about which make target triggers which sub-make? This would
really provide me with the big picture and deep insight sometimes
necessary to fully understand a nested build process.

("Hand somebody your little finger, and he will take your whole hand",
as we say in Germany.)

Regards
--
Alexander Kriegisch
Certified ScrumMaster
http://scrum-master.de