> On Mar 18, 2022, at 2:03 PM, Paul Smith <psm...@gnu.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, 2022-03-18 at 17:48 +0000, Martin Dorey wrote:
>> Maybe putting it in the form of a patch on the latest git source will
>> help it over the finish line:
>
> I'm OK with adding some short text about this into the man page. As
> David mentions it may be important enough to do that since command
> being run by make even when the user gives "-n" could give unexpected
> or even unpleasant consequences.
It's also a potential security problem. Someone who runs "make -n" and
expects *nothing* to be run (other than make) will NOT get what they expect.
Hinting, in the man page, that some statements *are* run seems appropriate...
and if we can be specific without a lot of text, even better.
> However, in general I want to be clear that the man page is not, and is
> not intended to be, user documentation. It's a reference page.
I agree. But adding 1-2 sentences seems reasonable.
--- David A. Wheeler
