On 22 October 2014 15:07, Paul Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > You're correct that make doesn't care about the contents of files, but > you're incorrect when you say that make is only concerned with the NAMES > of files. Make is primarily concerned with the _MODIFICATION TIMES_ of > files. Make decides when a file is newer or older by checking its > modification time. The name of the file is only useful to make insofar > as it allows make to find the target's modification time.
Agreed. Point of interest: symbolic links have a modification time separate to their referenced file. > A file that doesn't exist does not have a modification time, and so make > always considers that file to be out of date and rebuilds it. > This is again suggesting that dangling symbolic links don't exist. They can be created, they do get created ergo they do exist. :-p Point of interest: Dangling symbolic links still a modification time. But I accept that make treats all links (dangling or otherwise) as transparent. I don't like it and would love to understand the reasoning behind that decision, but it does at least explain make's logic neatly. Thanks for that all. That's what I was after. _______________________________________________ Help-make mailing list [email protected] https://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/help-make
