Broke Makefile in Linux.
Albert Cahalan (albert@ccs.neu.edu)
Thu, 4 Jul 1996 03:16:24 -0400 (EDT)
> The reason I ask why is it looks like the normal operation
> of a Makefile has been deliberately written out of the Linux Makefile.
> As a result I dread reconfiguring and trying new things because
> everytime everything is rebuilt. I consider my time too valuable
> to wait on a recompile when it appears to be >90% useless.
> This breakage seems to be consistant with the guidelines
> to make clean, before make. Although it also suggests a make dep.
> Why bother with make dep if you are going to remake everything
> anyway. I would volunteer to maintain the Makefiles if it could
> be used to selectively rebuild only those items that needed it.
> Surely, the Makes can be organized so that a total rebuild
> would only be required in dire circumstances. A minor configurtion
> change should not key it.
The last time this was brought up someone said that you would need
to put each config option in its own *.h file.
Maybe there is another way. Give each config option a modification
timestamp so that it is possible to detect exactly what has changed.
To use those timestamps, I would hack something into cpp.
That's very gross I know but I think it would be very fast
with cpp watching the timestamps instead of make.