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From: | Bob Friesenhahn |
Subject: | Re: [Automake-NG] Can we require GNU make >= 3.81? (make memoization doesn't work with GNU make 3.80) |
Date: | Sun, 20 May 2012 09:49:09 -0500 (CDT) |
User-agent: | Alpine 2.01 (GSO 1266 2009-07-14) |
On Sun, 20 May 2012, Jim Meyering wrote:
Note that sadly we can't require GNU make >= 3.82 (which would offer use the .ONESHELL feature) because Debian and Ubuntu still comes with GNU make 3.81 as the only version available through the package manager :-(For an "NG" tool in its infancy (i.e., little-or-no user base), requiring the nearly-2-year-old make-3.82 should not be a problem. However, I admit to being surprised that even debian *unstable* is still using 3.81. You have to go to experimental to get 3.82. So, yes, that means it is a problem.
The logic used by Debian/Ubuntu for when to update package versions totally escapes me. Users of my own software suffer as a result.
If Automake-NG is going to require a particular 'make' tool then it should require the version which allows it to be all it can be. It should be a demonstration of what is possible. To me, this means that even the most recent version could be a viable requirement. Like the film "Field Of Dreams", build it and they will come.
In a couple of years when Automake-NG begins to penetrate the "market", it seems likely that even Debian will finally have updated its build tools.
I have always been a proponent of developing a GNU build framework which is installed in advance of the packages using it. GNU make is still lacking as a build tool, but GNU make 3.82 is already available for several years already and it is easy to install.
Bob -- Bob Friesenhahn address@hidden, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/ GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/
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