In the two examples following, it appears as if an assignment of a list to nothing (null) acts differently. This could very well be a bash bug (or fix) between 2.04 and 2.05. I could find no email address for bash bugs.
Redhat 7.0 [sclingerman@transat sclingerman]$ bash --version GNU bash, version 2.04.11(1)-release (i386-redhat-linux-gnu) Copyright 1999 Free Software Foundation, Inc. [sclingerman@transat sclingerman]$ make --version GNU Make version 3.79.1, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath. Built for i386-redhat-linux-gnu Copyright (C) 1988, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Report bugs to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. [sclingerman@transat sclingerman]$ cat doit #!/bin/bash SUB_DIR_LIST= subdirs: for SD in $(SUB_DIR_LIST); do \ echo "This is" $$SD; \ done all: subdirs [sclingerman@transat sclingerman]$ make -f doit for SD in ; do \ echo "This is" $SD; \ done [sclingerman@transat sclingerman]$ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Redhat 7.2 [steve@/home/steve]$ bash --version GNU bash, version 2.05.8(1)-release (i386-redhat-linux-gnu) Copyright 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. [steve@/home/steve]$ make --version GNU Make version 3.79.1, by Richard Stallman and Roland McGrath. Built for i386-redhat-linux-gnu Copyright (C) 1988, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98, 99, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software; see the source for copying conditions. There is NO warranty; not even for MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Report bugs to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. [steve@/home/steve]$ cat doit #!/bin/bash SUB_DIR_LIST= subdirs: for SD in $(SUB_DIR_LIST); do \ echo "This is" $$SD; \ done all: subdirs [steve@/home/steve]$ make -f doit for SD in ; do \ echo "This is" $SD; \ done /bin/sh: -c: line 1: syntax error near unexpected token `;' /bin/sh: -c: line 1: `for SD in ; do echo "This is" $SD; done' make: *** [subdirs] Error 2 [steve@/home/steve]$ Steve Clingerman Transat Technologies 180 State Street Suite 240 Southlake, TX 76092 817-481-4412 Ext. 112 [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Bug-make mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-make