On Mon, 2021-02-01 at 08:51 -0800, Kaz Kylheku (gmake) wrote: > > The variable _IS_ empty, in the same way that any unset variable is > > empty. > > But the warning says "undefined", not "empty". > Is the warning actually about empty variables? If so, its wording is > misleading, as is the name of the option which controls it.
The warning is only for undefined variables. > Maybe MAKECMDGOALS *should* be set to the empty string by make? I don't think so. I see that I wrote a reply then got distracted and forgot to send it, so I've done that now. Basically it was the same thing David said. > A variable that is "de-facto built-in, but not defined", should > only be one that serves as an *input* to make, not one that is > used to *output* useful information. I'm not convinced we should make that restriction. In the case of MAKECMDGOALS it might not have mattered because there's no feasible way that a value of that variable could be the empty string that is materially different from being undefined. But in other situations it could be useful to keep the difference.
