Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Mon, 28 Oct 1996 13:31:10 -0600 (CST)
From:      Steve Price <sprice@hiwaay.net>
To:        "Rodney W. Grimes" <rgrimes@GndRsh.aac.dev.com>
Cc:        chuckr@glue.umd.edu, richardc@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU, current@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: -current failed
Message-ID:  <Pine.OSF.3.94.961028125155.29034A-100000@fly.HiWAAY.net>
In-Reply-To: <199610281842.KAA19478@GndRsh.aac.dev.com>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Mon, 28 Oct 1996, Rodney W. Grimes wrote:

# > Attached is a patch to /usr/share/mk/bsd.dep.mk that I use to get rid
# > of the .depend file when make clean is done.  I didn't commit it b/c I
# > don't think everybody (or even the majority) wants this, but you
# > might give it a try if you like the functionality.
# 
# Ugly hack, that is what ``make cleandir'' does for you, thus your patch
# is not needed.  ``make cleandist'' tears done and rebuilds the obj tree
# and links.
# 

Hmm, you are right.  It is indeed ugly.  But I can make my system as ugly
as I want. ;)  I only do this (on my machine) because that is the way that
I prefer 'make clean' to work.  You will notice that I disqualified this
as acceptable practice for everybody.  I only mentioned it because I had
run into the same problem and that is one of many ways to resolve it.

<disclaimer>
The intent of the following is not to invoke any religious wars, only to
state the 'humble opinion' of one person, Steve Price.  The words that
follow go against most traditional values and are to be discarded if not
found appropriate for one's taste.
</disclaimer>

The average user most likely knows that 'make clean' exists but has
limited knowledge of 'make cleand*'.  Whereas, the more knowledgeable
user (ie. the hacker), would know they exist and where to find a
description if needed.  This leads one to believe that one solution
to the stale .depend file problem that happens so often is to make
the default effect of 'make clean' to undo everything that could have
been done during a 'make *'.  OTH I believe that mechanisms need to
exist to allow the more knowledgeable person to turn off this
functionality if they so desire.

The whole premise of the above is to avoid newbie mistakes and to
provide hackers with as many knobs as they want to tweak.  IMHO, the
current state of 'make clean' is like having 'od -x' aliased to
'more'.  The hacker would understand it, but it requires the newbie
to swim into treacherous waters for hidden treasure.

Most humbly,

Steve

# 
# 
# -- 
# Rod Grimes                                      rgrimes@gndrsh.aac.dev.com
# Accurate Automation, Inc.                   Reliable computers for FreeBSD
# 





Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?Pine.OSF.3.94.961028125155.29034A-100000>