Hi Martin | > base = xxx-$(shell date '+%Y%m%d-%H%M%S') | | Perhaps you wanted := instead of =. The difference is explained in (for | example): | | http://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/html_node/Reading-Makefiles.html | #Reading-Makefiles
Thanks for the pointer. But, at least as I read that page, it sounds like all variables are expanded exactly once - whether they are immediate or deferred. It looks a lot like my variable is being expanded twice. Plus, it's not easy to reproduce: sometimes the change happens earlier in the sequence of @echo commands I posted (these are not the commands I'm using, of course - in my actual situation things go much worse, and they do so at differing points in the set of commands to make the target), sometimes later, most times not at all. Reading the page you point to still doesn't make me see how the variable could be expanded into different values, unless "internalizes all the variables" should be taken to mean that the expansion is done for the purposes of figuring out what needs to be built, and then later the variable is expanded with intent to use it. But even then, there should still be just one value popping up in the expanded shell commands, and the behavior would be reproducible. And of course (I think) it would come as a surprise to many to think that their $(shell) commands were going to be executed twice. So I think the executed twice theory must be wrong. My guess is that there is a problem (somewhere) that occurs in a very specific window of each second (e.g., if the variable is expanded in the last 1/1000th of a second before the clock ticks to the next second). This sounds improbable, I know, but I don't see another solution. But then where are the two values coming from? From make? From date? If I'm overlooking the obvious here, please be gentle :-) Thanks again, Terry _______________________________________________ Bug-make mailing list Bug-make@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/bug-make
