Re: Need ways to make Makefiles more foolproof

[Michael Ludwig]

Bo Johansson schrieb am 11.03.2012 um 22:18 (+0100):

> Yes I know:
>     perl Makefile.PL
>     make
>     make test
>     ...
> 
> But I should have used DMAKE instead of make and spoiled some day
> trying to find the "non existing" errors.

Bo, precisely the same thing with Makefile.PL / ExtUtils::MakeMaker has
annoyed me just like it annoyed you. I recently asked on StackOverflow
about GNU Make support on Windows in EU::MM. The answer is that there is
no such support, which I found amazing as GNU Make is, I think, the most
popular Make program.

ExtUtils::MakeMaker and supported MAKE programs on Windows
http://stackoverflow.com/q/9454961/269126

I supplied a doc patch, which is still in the queue:

clarified MAKE nebula
https://github.com/Perl-Toolchain-Gang/ExtUtils-MakeMaker/pull/27

> An error message (in the makefile generated by "perl Makefile.PL")
> telling me that I was using the wrong make program had saved me some
> work.

Yes, I agree, that would be a useful addition to EU::MM. Is that what
you're working towards?

Best,

Michael

> So I am looking for "portable" makefile idioms to:
> 
> *Find which make program is used
> *Give an error message and stop the make program
> 
> I also want the idioms to be portable to more make programs than GNU
> Make and dmake. I expected that there was "libraries" with "portable"
> makefile idioms!
> 
> See also the original post
> http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/help-make/2012-02/msg00022.html.