Re: [bug #33034] "Makefile:23: *** mixed implicit and normal rules. Stop." for Linux kernel out of source builds

[Jonathan Nieder]

Paul Smith wrote:

> Today you're having an issue with make, but tomorrow it will be a change
> in GCC, or binutils, or whatever... then what?  Will you be asking GCC
> to add a special flag to switch back to old behavior just to support
> older Linux kernels?  Not going to happen.  Why is this different?

Just for the record: no, GCC and binutils have a pretty good track
record for compatibility, as far as big users like the kernel (and
glibc, except that glibc and binutils versions tend to be tied for
obvious reasons) go.  The last major problem I remember seeing was
<http://bugs.debian.org/620448>, which offers a compatibility switch.

But I think it's up to the people complaining to offer a patch.  And I
think it's perfectly reasonable for you to say "no" if such a patch is
too invasive or ugly.

> And of course, even if we were to make this change and release a new GNU
> make today you would STILL have this problem in any existing
> environments... you'd need to deploy a custom version of make and use
> that instead anyway.

Nah.  Debian at least has been holding back on moving to 3.82, mostly
for this reason.