'make -Rd' output may omit order-only prerequisite

Nomen Nescio <[email protected]> Mon, 3 Feb 2025 11:17:58 +0100 (CET)

Newsgroups	gmane.comp.gnu.make.bugs
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Given this makefile,

    foo/bar : | foo/. ; touch $@
    $(word 1,$(MAKEFILE_LIST)) : | baz/.
    %/. : ; mkdir -p $(@D)

'make -Rd' prints the following line only if the target exists: 

    Prerequisite 'foo/.' is order-only for target 'foo/bar'.

whereas the following is printed in either case: 

    Prerequisite 'baz/.' is order-only for target 'Makefile'.

It would be useful to have that line printed regardless of target existence.

Tested with GNU make 4.2.1, 4.3, and 4.4.1, all on GNU/linux.


M. Thomsen