Re: Hello, dear GNU MAKE maintainer

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Perhaps he is saying this:

GNU MAKE on the Mac is old.

Correct me if I am wrong, but this is my take:

As GNU tightened their license, Apple stopped updating their use of GNU
software. Bash is a good example of this. Therefore, GNU MAKE on the Mac is
very old.

There are only two options:

   1.

   Use the old make as-is.
   2.

   Build and install the latest yourself.

Blake McBride


On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 8:58=E2=80=AFAM Paul Smith <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Tue, 2026-04-28 at 21:31 +0800, James Hu wrote:
> > C compiler is a bit complex for me. I cannot architect a
> > compiler, neither frontend nor backend.
> >
> > In the meantime GNU compiler collection is rolling fast from its
> > regex support if i remember correctly. Does a make program need a
> > modern compiler?
>
> This entire conversation is not understandable to me.  Again I ask,
> what exactly is the issue that you are trying to solve?
>
> Are you trying to get a newer version of GNU Make on your Mac than the
> one that is provided by Apple?  If so please just ask that question
> clearly.  I have no idea what i386 or cross-compilation to ARM and
> amd64 have to do with this.
>
> GNU Make is written in C99 so any C compiler can compile it.  I don't
> know what regex support has to do with GCC (or with GNU Make for that
> matter: GNU Make doesn't use a regex library).
>
>
> If you don't want to build GNU Make by hand, and you are using Homebrew
> on your Mac, then just install the latest version of GNU Make that way.
> For example: https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/make
>
>

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><p>Perhaps he is saying this:</p><p>GNU MAKE on the Mac is=
 old.</p><p>Correct me if I am wrong, but this is my take:</p><p>As GNU tig=
htened their license, Apple stopped updating their use of GNU software. Bas=
h is a good example of this. Therefore, GNU MAKE on the Mac is very old.</p=
><p>There are only two options:</p><ol><li><p>Use the old make as-is.</p></=
li><li><p>Build and install the latest yourself.</p></li></ol><p>Blake McBr=
ide</p><div><br></div></div><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote gmail_quote_conta=
iner"><div dir=3D"ltr" class=3D"gmail_attr">On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 8:58=E2=
=80=AFAM Paul Smith &lt;<a href=3D"mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a=
>&gt; wrote:<br></div><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"margin:0px=
 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">On =
Tue, 2026-04-28 at 21:31 +0800, James Hu wrote:<br>
&gt; C compiler=C2=A0is a bit complex for me.=C2=A0I cannot architect a<br>
&gt; compiler,=C2=A0neither=C2=A0frontend nor backend.<br>
&gt; <br>
&gt; In the meantime GNU compiler collection is rolling fast from its<br>
&gt; regex support if i remember correctly. Does a make program need a<br>
&gt; modern compiler?<br>
<br>
This entire conversation is not understandable to me.=C2=A0 Again I ask,<br=
>
what exactly is the issue that you are trying to solve?<br>
<br>
Are you trying to get a newer version of GNU Make on your Mac than the<br>
one that is provided by Apple?=C2=A0 If so please just ask that question<br=
>
clearly.=C2=A0 I have no idea what i386 or cross-compilation to ARM and<br>
amd64 have to do with this.<br>
<br>
GNU Make is written in C99 so any C compiler can compile it.=C2=A0 I don&#3=
9;t<br>
know what regex support has to do with GCC (or with GNU Make for that<br>
matter: GNU Make doesn&#39;t use a regex library).<br>
<br>
<br>
If you don&#39;t want to build GNU Make by hand, and you are using Homebrew=
<br>
on your Mac, then just install the latest version of GNU Make that way.<br>
For example: <a href=3D"https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/make" rel=3D"noref=
errer" target=3D"_blank">https://formulae.brew.sh/formula/make</a><br>
<br>
</blockquote></div>

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