Re: Help-make Digest, Vol 80, Issue 12

[Paul Smith]

On Fri, 2009-07-17 at 15:25 +0800, xiangfeng shen wrote:
> Hi,
>  
> I have encountered a rule:
> default %: 
>    @echo "blah blah"
> 
> What's the meaning of the rule?

Hi Carl; please do not reply to digests.  You should use a decent mail
client that can break a digest out into its constituent mails then you
can reply to the individual mail you care about.

And, you should not top-post.  And, you should never include the entire
post you are replying to.

And in this case, you aren't replying to ANYTHING in the digest that I
can see, so really you should have just started a new mail rather than
replying in the first place.

Really just about everything that could be wrong with this email, is
wrong... which is probably why you didn't get a response.

The answer is there's nothing very unique about this.  It's just the
same as writing:

        default:
                @echo "blah blah"
        %:
                @echo "blah blah"

(you can see this by using make -p and examining the database).  The "%"
is a match-anything pattern (see the GNU make manual), so any target
make wants to build that is not matched by any other rule, can be
matched by this one.

-- 
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 Paul D. Smith <address@hidden>          Find some GNU make tips at:
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 "Please remain calm...I may be mad, but I am a professional." --Mad Scientist