Re: Feature request: Force ignore prerequisites with CLI flag

[Paul Smith]

On Sat, 2022-08-13 at 22:43 -0400, Joe Flack wrote:
> I would be happy to assist with implementing this feature, or
> creating an issue.

Useful new features are always interesting to consider.

Before any implementation can start the requirements and operations of
the feature need to be clearly described.  GNU make has been around for
over forty years and is relied on by hundreds of thousands (if not
millions) of projects: modifications must be made deliberately and
carefully.

Mostly this conversation would happen on the bug-make@gnu.org mailing
list rather than here; this list is mainly for people who need help
writing makefiles.

> I thought `make` was open source, but I don't see it on GitHub.

First, GNU make is part of the GNU project, which is Free Software, not
open source software.  To better understand the difference you can
read:

https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/open-source-misses-the-point.en.html

Second, not all free or open source software ("FOSS") is available on
GitHub: GitHub is itself not open source or free software.  Please be
sure to not equate them as "if it's FOSS it's on GitHub, and if it's
not on GitHub it's not FOSS".  There are many many sites that
distribute FOSS in many different ways.

Finally, the GNU make project is managed through the GNU project's
site, Savannah.  You can find the project here:

https://savannah.gnu.org/projects/make/

You can file an issue there if you like.

Cheers!