Previous: Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules, Up: Using Implicit Rules [Contents][Index]
Here is the procedure make
uses for searching for an implicit rule
for a target t. This procedure is followed for each double-colon
rule with no recipe, for each target of ordinary rules none of which have
a recipe, and for each prerequisite that is not the target of any rule. It
is also followed recursively for prerequisites that come from implicit
rules, in the search for a chain of rules.
Suffix rules are not mentioned in this algorithm because suffix rules are converted to equivalent pattern rules once the makefiles have been read in.
For an archive member target of the form ‘archive(member)’, the following algorithm is run twice, first using the entire target name t, and second using ‘(member)’ as the target t if the first run found no rule.
If all prerequisites exist or ought to exist, or there are no prerequisites, then this rule applies.
.DEFAULT
, if any,
applies. In that case, give t the same recipe that
.DEFAULT
has. Otherwise, there is no recipe for t.
Once a rule that applies has been found, for each target pattern of the rule other than the one that matched t or n, the ‘%’ in the pattern is replaced with s and the resultant file name is stored until the recipe to remake the target file t is executed. After the recipe is executed, each of these stored file names are entered into the data base and marked as having been updated and having the same update status as the file t.
When the recipe of a pattern rule is executed for t, the automatic variables are set corresponding to the target and prerequisites. See Automatic Variables.
Previous: Old-Fashioned Suffix Rules, Up: Using Implicit Rules [Contents][Index]