Re: Questions...

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: "Wagner, Phillip W." <address@hidden>
> Date: Fri, 2 Aug 2002 11:44:30 -0500
> 
> 1. While using the -win32 shell how does one correctly expand an
>     environment variable for usage on the command line.  The
>     %DOS_VARIABLE% doesn't always expand when executing a command.

You need to make sure that the command is run by the shell (which is
where the expansion of %DOS_VARIABLE% happens).  GNU Make tries very
hard not to invoke the shell, but to run the subprograms directly
where possible.

But the portable way of inserting environment variables into a
command is to use the $DOS_VARIABLE syntax.  Make imports all the
environment variables automatically when it starts, and converts each
one into a Make variable.

> 2. I am dealing with a compiler that will create a target file (
>     .i or .obj) with a zero size when it errors.  I need to allow
>     make to execute with errors suppressed as "acceptable"
>     warnings occur that stop make.  Is there a way that make would
>     be able to check for files with 0 size to force them to be
>     rebuilt in the Win/DOS environment?

You could use the ``feature'' of the COPY command, whereby it doesn't
copy empty files.  By testing for the existence of the copy you can
indirectly test for the zero-size files.