Bug#88029: allow rules file to be non-makefile
On Thu, Mar 01, 2001 at 01:47:34AM +0100, Josip Rodin wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 01, 2001 at 12:33:49AM +0000, Julian Gilbey wrote:
> > But one is much less likely to do that: there may be the odd line of
> > code in shoop, but to actually warp the makefile into shoop would seem
> > like hard work.
>
> Considering that make just runs the commands through shell, I wouldn't bet
> on it...
Remember that every line is passed to a separate invocation of
/bin/sh.
> Ask the opposite question -- what's the point of taking a sequence of
> commands and turning it into a makefile? Those external commands don't
> depend on their caller being a makefile. In fact, they could care less[1]
> what calls them.
>
> This is the point I'm trying to prove. The specific requirement for the
> rules file to be a makefile is too strict and is not necessary.
I get what you're saying. Maybe you're right. I'm really unsure.
> > If someone is going to go to the effort of writing rules in a system other
> > than make, they're likely to want to do something a bit bizarre, and
> > that's where things get hairy.
>
> Bizarre? The next upload of maildrop will have debian/rules written in plain
> old shell, check it out, I don't think you'll see anything odd in there.
> (Feel free to file as many RC bugs you want ;)
No, that's not really a good way to go about doing things. Let's come
to a decision here, then go act on it. If we can't come up with a
really good reason why debian/rules MUST be a makefile, then we'll
change policy and you should feel free to go ahead and write
debian/rules in sh. But if we decide that it MUST be a makefile, then
you should not just ignore policy, for that way lies anarchy (or
other distros).
I can't think of a really good reason for insisting, besides the issue
of readability.
Julian
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Julian Gilbey, Dept of Maths, Queen Mary, Univ. of London
Debian GNU/Linux Developer, see http://people.debian.org/~jdg
Donate free food to the world's hungry: see http://www.thehungersite.com/
Reply to: