Re: A particular purpose... can it be done?

[Paul D. Smith]

%% Nathanael Nerode <address@hidden> writes:

  nn> I'm trying to get some particular information out of a Makefile.
  nn> 1. Given a target file, is there a rule to remake it?
  nn> 2. Given a target file, is it a dependency of anything, or not?

The next version of GNU make will provide some introspection
capabilities, but it's not clear whether they will solve your problem.

Anyway, for now the best way is to use GNU make's -p (print database)
option; this is much more reliable (and faster) than using -n and
groveling through the output.

See the GNU make manual for more info.

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