Re: MAKECMDGOALS

[Paul Smith]

On Mon, 2021-02-01 at 08:51 -0800, Kaz Kylheku (gmake) wrote:
> > The variable _IS_ empty, in the same way that any unset variable is
> > empty.
> 
> But the warning says "undefined", not "empty".
> Is the warning actually about empty variables? If so, its wording is
> misleading, as is the name of the option which controls it.

The warning is only for undefined variables.

> Maybe MAKECMDGOALS *should* be set to the empty string by make?

I don't think so.

I see that I wrote a reply then got distracted and forgot to send it,
so I've done that now.  Basically it was the same thing David said.

> A variable that is "de-facto built-in, but not defined", should
> only be one that serves as an *input* to make, not one that is
> used to *output* useful information.

I'm not convinced we should make that restriction.  In the case of
MAKECMDGOALS it might not have mattered because there's no feasible way
that a value of that variable could be the empty string that is
materially different from being undefined.  But in other situations it
could be useful to keep the difference.