Re: Makefile remaking loop

[Boris Kolpackov]

address@hidden (Frank Küster) writes:

> all: fileB
>       echo "made $@"
>       -ls --full-time -l $<
>
> fileB: ../fileA
>       test -e $< && test $< -nt $@ && cp $< $@ || true
>
> ../fileA:
>       true
>
> This seems to go well, does anybody still see a problem?

You don't really need the last rule, i.e.,

all: fileB
        echo "made $@"
        -ls --full-time -l $<

fileB:
        test -e $< && test $< -nt $@ && cp $< $@ || true

This will work because make checks if a target (real file, not
phony) actually changed after the rule's command has completed.
If the file hasn't changed then make won't update targets that
happen to depend on this file and otherwise up-to-date. You can
read more about this here:

http://kolpackov.net/pipermail/notes/2004-September/000011.html

hth,
-boris