Why don't I always "get" gmake()?

[David Featherstone]

Hi

 

IMO I’m a pretty bright guy: I can write complex sed(), awk(), perl(), and sh() scripts, and I’m expert with C/C++. But why can’t I write Makefiles with the same flair? Frequently there seems to be some magic [not] happening that confounds me and even gmake –d fails to shed adequate light on the problem.

 

What am I missing? How do I reach the point where my grasp of gmake is as solid as my grasp of C? Do you have a list of detail rules that gmake follows to process targets?

 

Cheers,

… Dave