Re: GNU make (Re: [HACKERS] Re: [PATCHES] Patch for more readable parse error messages)

Peter Eisentraut <e99re41(at)DoCS(dot)UU(dot)SE> writes:
> On Wed, 23 Feb 2000, Tom Lane wrote:
>>>> And in fact, VPATH exists in both System V's and 4.3 BSD's make.
>>
>> You're still confusing two datapoints with the wide world...

> I challenge everyone to show me a make without VPATH. In fact, show me two
> makes without a feature that you can't live without, and I shall forever
> hold my peace.

Out of the four systems I have easy access to: HPUX 10, HPUX 9, Linux
(some fairly old RedHat version), and SunOS 4.1.4, two have makes
without VPATH ... and Linux doesn't really count since it's using gmake
anyway.

Now you can argue that HPUX 9 and SunOS 4.1.4 are dinosaurs that should
be put out of their misery, and I wouldn't disagree --- but reality is
that a lot of people are running older systems and don't have the time
or interest to upgrade 'em. "Portability" doesn't mean "portability to
the newest and most standards-conformant systems", it means portability
to what's actually out there.

> it's not the idea to say "we need GNU make because it has all these
> features" when 93% of these features in fact exist in all other reasonable
> makes as well.

If I thought we were anywhere near that close to being able to use old
makes, I'd be arguing for removing the GNU-make dependency too. But
I don't think it's going to be practical...

regards, tom lane