Re: [PATCH] maint: remove most recursion in automake's own build system

[Stefano Lattarini]

On 04/05/2012 03:55 PM, Jim Meyering wrote:
>
> I am glad to see that you too are taking an interest in non-recursive make.
> I've always liked how bison switched to non-recursive make, and recently
> converted cppi to do the same (the final hold-out there is po/, since its
> Makefile.in.in is automatically generated).
>
> Did you consider leaving doc-related Makefile.am parts in say,
> doc/local.mk, which could then be included from the top-level
> Makefile.am, and similarly for lib/ and m4/?
>
Yes, I thought about that, but in the end I find such a separation somewhat
artificial and confusing.  In addition, keeping all rules and variables
defined in a single Makefile makes it easier to spot code duplication and
devise possible refactoring.

> I find that to be more maintainable in that it keeps the
> rules in the same directory as the associated files, and the
> top-level Makefile.am does not become quite so large.
>
I think we'll have to "agree to disagree" on this; in fact, I find your
suggested setup less maintainable, since, as I've hinted above, it entails
what looks to me as an artificial separation -- artificial because make
does not allow a real incapsulation/modularity anyway, so it's better be
"honest" and use a monolithic Makefile right away.

Do you still think my patch is a worthwhile move even in light of this
disagreement, or do you think it's better to keep the status quo?

Regards,
  Stefano