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diff --git a/src/kmk/TODO.private b/src/kmk/TODO.private new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a56827a --- /dev/null +++ b/src/kmk/TODO.private @@ -0,0 +1,117 @@ + -*-Indented-Text-*- +GNU Make TODO List +------------------ + +This list comes both from the authors and from users of GNU make. + +They are listed in no particular order! + +Also, I don't guarantee that all of them will be ultimately deemed "good +ideas" and implemented. These are just the ones that, at first blush, +seem to have some merit (and that I can remember). + +However, if you see something here you really, really want, speak up. +All other things being equal, I will tend to implement things that seem +to maximize user satisfaction. + +If you want to implement some of them yourself, barring the ones I've +marked below, have at it! Please contact me first to let me know you're +working on it, and give me some info about the design--and, critically, +information about any user-visible syntax change, etc. + + +The Top Item +------------ + +If you know perl (or want to learn DejaGNU or similar), the number one +priority on my list of things I don't have time to do right now is +fixing up the GNU make test suite. Most importantly it needs to be made +"parallelizable", so more than one regression can run at the same time +(essentially, make the "work" directory local). Also, the CWD during +the test should be in the work directory or, better, a test-specific +temporary directory so each test gets a new directory; right now +sometimes tests leak files into the main directory which causes +subsequent tests to fail (some tests may need to be tweaked). Beyond +that, any cleanup done to make writing, reading, or handling tests +simpler would be great! Please feel free to make whatever changes you +like to the current tests, given some high-level goals, and that you'll +port the current tests to whatever you do :). + + +The Rest of the List +-------------------- + + 1) Option to check more than timestamps to determine if targets have + changed. This is also a very big one. It's _close_ to my plate :), + and I have very definite ideas about how I would like it done. + Please pick something else unless you must have this feature. If + you try it, please work _extremely_ closely with me on it. + + 1a) Possibly a special case of this is the .KEEP_STATE feature of Sun's + make. Some great folks at W U. in Canada did an implementation of + this for a class project. Their approach is reasonable and + workable, but doesn't really fit into my ideas for #2. Maybe + that's OK. I have paperwork for their work so if you want to do + this one talk to me to get what they've already done. + + [K R Praveen <praveen@cair.res.in>] + + 2) Currently you can use "%.foo %.bar : %.baz" to mean that one + invocation of the rule builds both targets. GNU make needs a way to + do that for explicit rules, too. I heard a rumor that some versions + of make all you to say "a.foo + a.bar : a.baz" to do this (i.e., a + "+" means one invocation builds both). Don't know if this is the + best syntax or not... what if you say "a.foo + a.bar a.bam : a.baz"; + what does that mean? + + 3) Multi-token pattern rule matching (allow %1/%2.c : %1/obj/%2.o, + etc., or something like that). Maybe using regex? + + 4) Provide a .TARGETS variable, containing the names of the targets + defined in the makefile. + + Actually, I now think a $(targets ...) function, at least, might be + better than a MAKETARGETS variable. The argument would be types of + targets to list: "phony" is the most useful one. I suppose + "default" might also be useful. Maybe some others; check the + bitfields to see what might be handy. + + 5) Some sort of operating-system independent way of handling paths + would be outstanding, so makefiles can be written for UNIX, VMS, + DOS, MS-Windows, Amiga, etc. with a minimum of specialization. + + Or, perhaps related/instead of, some sort of meta-quoting syntax so + make can deal with filenames containing spaces, colons, etc. I + dunno, maybe something like $[...]? This may well not be worth + doing until #1 is done. + + 6) Right now the .PRECIOUS, .INTERMEDIATE, and .SECONDARY + pseudo-targets have different capabilities. For example, .PRECIOUS + can take a "%", the others can't. Etc. These should all work the + same, insofar as that makes sense. + + 7) Improved debugging/logging/etc. capabilities. Part of this is done: + I introduced a number of debugging enhancements. Tim Magill is (I + think) looking into options to control output more selectively. + One thing I want to do in debugging is add a flag to allow debugging + of variables as they're expanded (!). This would be incredibly + verbose, but could be invaluable when nothing else seems to work and + you just can't figure it out. The way variables are expanded now + means this isn't 100% trivial, but it probably won't be hard. + + +------------------------------------------------------------------------------- +Copyright (C) 1997-2016 Free Software Foundation, Inc. +This file is part of GNU Make. + +GNU Make is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the +terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software +Foundation; either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later +version. + +GNU Make is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY +WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR +A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. + +You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with +this program. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>. |