Re: how to manage make(1) dependencies on gnulib-generated header files

On Wed, 2026-07-29 at 00:55 +0200, Bruno Haible wrote:
> G. Branden Robinson wrote:
> > > So, maybe changes lines like this:
> > > 
> > > src/libs/libgroff/libgroff_a-relocate.$(OBJEXT): defs.h
> > > 
> > > to lines like this:
> > > 
> > > src/libs/libgroff/libgroff_a-relocate.$(OBJEXT): $(BUILT_SOURCES)
> > > 
> > > and add a similar rule for src/libs/libgroff/libgroff_a-font.$(OBJEXT).
> > 
> > Hmm!  Okay, I'll think about the implications here.
> 
> Another possibility is to add these lines to Makefile.am:
> 
>   # This is implicit in "make all", but is needed explicitly before other target
>   # invocations.
>   built-sources: $(BUILT_SOURCES)
> 
> Then people like Richard can run
>   $ make built-sources specific-target
> instead of
>   $ make specific-target
> and thus get a certain target built without the need to do "make all".
> 
> It is particularly useful for the 'make dist' target, which is required
> to work _without_ preceding 'make all'. [1]

That makes sense and it what I had in mind to work around the issues. I
can always just add it for debugging. Thanks!

Cheers,

Richard