Bug#640874: leave: debian/rules is not a Makefile

[peter green <plugwash@p10link.net>]

Ian Jackson wrote:
> But I agree with Josip's point about the spirit vs. the letter: if we
> write into policy that debian/rules must be a makefile, Josip can
> comply with the policy by what amounts IMO to trickery.  And it's not
> trickery that's simple to forbid, given that that trickery is exactly
> what dh(1) uses.
----SNIP-----
> And one implausible one:
>
> 3. Require that it be a makefile and FORBID
> 	%:
> 		debian/myscript $@
>    but PERMIT
>        %:
> 		dh $@


Just an idea as an outsider how about

4: Require it be a makefile and additionally require that if the makefile 
  makes use of wildcards it must implement a "listtargets" target.

  Listtargets would return a list of supported targets. Tools looking
  for targets would search the makefile for targets and run 
  debian/listtargets if they found wildcards.

That way tools could still get a list of supported targets even if
wildcards are used and dh wouldn't need to be special cased (though it
would need to be modified to implement the new target).