Re: Optimizing directory creation

Hi,

I did have a reason, which wasn't tied up with GNU make.  Trying to explain
wont help you but there is a other way.

One problem with directories is that their time and date change when
anything is done on the directory e.g. if a new file is created.  I think
you might need to check that adding a file to one of your directories
doesn't trigger m=C4=B1d=C4=B1r on anything below it. Does this matter a lo=
t? Not
really in this case.

In my unusual situation it causes a very bad performance regression so I
had to use another scheme.

What was effective for me was a variable that one appended the directory to
and then at the end of the makefile a for loop that ran something like
$(eval $$(shell  mkd=C4=B1r -p ... ) on batches of about 20 directories at =
a
time.

If you're not making 100s of directories you don't need to be too
sophisticated.

Best regards,

Tim Murphy


On Thu, 30 Apr 2026, 19:29 Heime, <[email protected]> wrote:

>
> I made the following makefile, where .info and html files are
> stored in docs/info and docs/html directories.  Whilst single
> file antares.pdf and antares.dvi are stored in directory docs.
>
> Have included order-only prerequisite for directories with the
> rules defined as shown.  Would one rather do something different
> for making the directories if they don't exist?
>
> docdir =3D ${HOME}/Opfeld/hist/build/${btnver}/docs
> infdir =3D ${HOME}/Opfeld/hist/build/${btnver}/docs/info
> hmldir =3D ${HOME}/Opfeld/hist/build/${btnver}/docs/html
>
> srcs =3D ${srcdir}/antares.texi
>
> opts =3D --force --enable-encoding -I ${srcdir}
>
> $(infdir)/antares.info: $(srcs) | $(infdir)
>         makeinfo $(opts) -o $@ $<
>
> $(hmldir)/antares.html: $(srcs) | $(hmldir)
>         makeinfo $(opts) --html -o $@ $<
>
> $(docdir)/antares.pdf: $(srcs) | $(docdir)
>         makeinfo $(opts) --pdf -o $@ $<
>
> $(docdir)/antares.dvi: $(srcs) | $(docdir)
>         makeinfo $(opts) --dvi -o $@ $<
>
> ${infdir}: $(docdir)
> ${hmldir}: ${docdir}
> ${docdir} ${infdir} ${hmldir}:
>         mkdir -p $@
>
>
>
>
>
>