RE: Path separator character

[Paul D. Smith]

%% "Sauder, Vernon" <address@hidden> writes:

  sv> I decided to test GNU make. The advantages over nmake and opus are
  sv> that (1) it can be used across platforms standardizing the
  sv> makefile syntax, and (2) it can be modified if needed.

If you really want cross-platform portability, you'll use forward
slashes everywhere.  Writing a makefile using backslashes means your
makefiles will never be portable, regardless of how portable your make
is.

  sv> 1) Is GNU make the best choice? Sell me.

Only you can decide that.  This is free software, and that means we
don't have to sell anything.  Use it if you want to, don't use it if you
don't want to... we get paid the same either way.

  sv> 2) Is there a better port than this?

I don't know of any other ports except for Cygnus and MINGW (and I hope
to integrate the MINGW port for the next release).

  sv> 3) If I decide to patch this source, there are further questions
  sv> as to the best implementation. It appears that a command line
  sv> switch or phony target or such would be needed. I was doing the
  sv> conversion at all places that used file names. I am now thinking
  sv> that the file structure name and hname may be the best place for
  sv> this. It should not convert all variables (indeed it does not know
  sv> what variables are file names), just the places where it is adding
  sv> a file name to a path as part of vpath searching or similar
  sv> operation. (I am attempting to minimize my changes if they need to
  sv> become part of the source archive.)

Changing name and hname seems like it might be a good place to start.  I
can't pretend I can foresee where you'll have to go to really make this
work, though.  It might be very simple, or it might get very hairy.  You
have to remember that "\" is treated as an escape character in many
parts of a makefile, so you need to beware of places where your
backslashes might get stripped as escape characters.

  sv> BTW, who is the maintainer of the Win32 compatibility code in gmake?

There is no single maintainer: I get patches from various people.  The
people most responsible for it to this point are probably Rob Tulloh and
Eli Zaretskii though.

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
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